A Different Perspective
by KillerKlown12
Summary: Forces long dormant are moving; people have become complacent,they no longer worry about the looming darkness of Grimm. The world is nothing but a chess board where everyone plays for keeps. Cinder plots destruction, the White Fang are desperate,the grimm are changing. Surrounded by enemies, what can one man do? This is the story of Augustus Schnee, head of the Schnee Dust Company.
1. Chapter 1

A Different Perspective

**A/N: This story is meant to bring a new perspective to the Schnee family, specifically Weiss's father, and to shed light on both the implied and explicit lore of the series. This won't be an action packed thriller, romantic fluff, or your usual fanfic. This is going to be a fleshing out of the Schnee family, business, and lore with my own "realistic" spin on it. I say again, do not expect war-zones, lemons, fluff or feels in much abundance. This is the story of an emotionally stunted man who runs the biggest Dust company in all of Vale as he struggles to reconnect with his daughter, do what he sees as right, and protect what he values. So angst may or may not be a prevalent theme, but business transaction, intrigue, war and ethics will be prevailing themes.**

**Before we start I'm going to need to set down some of my own 'verse' rules, seeing as we will be delving into Dust and its uses, as well as its implications in the RWBY verse. The technology level of this verse is never explicitly stated, but I think we can all agree it's well into and likely past the Western worlds current level. Especially militarily, seeing as they have highly advanced aircraft that can move at great speed while also acting as a helicopter. Androids and other autonomous machinery also prove this point. Moving on, the current political state of the world is likely a bunch of kingdoms. This is established in episode 15, and who lives under what is never made clear. Finally, in episode 2 its stated that the Schnee company is "one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world". **

**Right before Blake says this Weiss implies that Dust is this verse's version of power/propellant "Fire, water, lightning, energy!" So Dust must be needed to power weaponry, boats, electronics, and other everyday devices that require power. This includes anything that may use oil, so large boats/tankers that we see are, again, powered by Dust as are the aircraft and even the "scrolls"(tablets) at the academy. This would also explain as to why there needs to be Dust shops open all over cities. If it only powered weaponry I can't imagine how any of these small shops would stay in business. It can also be assumed that different colors of Dust are used for different utilities. Lightning for electricity and fire(red) for combustion with a combination of the two being used for a multitude of purposes. Now that this essay is over let's get started. If you have any verse questions, concerns, ect just PM me. Hope any and all readers enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Never got this point of these things...I do not own RWBY or anything associated with it, the characters are not mine outside of those of my own creation. I am not making any money from making this. **

Augustus Schnee was a simple man. All he demanded was the best, both from his family and employees. Being the head of the Schnee Dust Company wasn't what all the media and commoners thought it to be. Sure, he had wealth, power, respect and prestige but the stress and effort needed to run such a business weighed heavily on his mind. He had little time for trivial things such as family, his wife understood that until the day she was murdered by the White Fang.

He never told Weiss the truth surrounding her mother's death, who wanted to be a huntress. She wanted to protect those who could not protect themselves. Telling her the truth would only sour her chances of success. Today was actually the day that Weiss had left the Schnee estate for Beacon Academy, a school where legends were born. He worried little for his daughter. Weiss knew that she would be the sole inheritor of the Schnee Company and its legacy, no amount of military training would ever change that.

Looking back on what had caused him to pull some strings to get Weiss into Beacon made his heart swell with pride. His daughter had learned all she could from the best trainers at the age of 16, surpassing some even. It was one of the few times Augustus himself was there to push Weiss to be the best she could be, reminding her of the legacy she was to inherit, of the responsibility that awaited her far into the future. Augustus Schnee could still be considered young, at the age of 34 he had no doubt that he was a rather handsome man. Standing to his full height of 5" 9' Augustus made his way around his organized work was truly of high quality, being made of polished marble it fit well into the white and light blue color scheme the Schnee family adopted. His office was no exception. White shoes clacked on marble floor as Ice Blue eyes came into focus.

Now was not the time for sentiment, he had another merger to negotiate. Fixing his light blue tie, Augustus Schnee looked himself over in a mirror on the wall. His snow white hair, skin and suit gave off a cold impression, with icy blue eyes completing the frigid business look. The only thing that remained of his younger self was his long hair. Though even that was made to give off the most intimidating look. Framing his sharp jaw as it reached for his neck, his blue eyes were given more color as white bangs came down to just above his eyes. Content with his appearance, Augustus steeled himself and opened a large white wooden door.

"Please, do come in. I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival." Faking a warm voice was effortless now. Years of practice had long since dulled his emotions when he worked. The only problem was he did nothing but work.

"Thank you Mr. Schnee. Your too kind." Calculating black met icy blue as the two company owners sized one-another up. Both knew that this moment was an eventuality. Not even the most tenacious could hope to compete with a Stalwarts were the final stepping stone to achieving a monopoly in the Kingdom of Vale. Now, like all other competitors, they were on the verge of bankruptcy and wanted to salvage what little they could.

Stepping aside, Augustus motioned for the elderly businessman to take a seat by his desk. There was already a white cushioned chair waiting to be occupied. Closing the door with a near silent click, Augustus had to keep a genuine smile from crossing his face as Mr. Stalwart looked at his office in poorly contained awe. He was rather smug every time it happened, he had designed the space after all. He knew the light blue walls were a good choice, as were the many glass works of art stationed around the perimeter of the room. All of it made to show wealth.

"So what has brought you down to my humble abode this evening?" His voice deep and monotone, Augustus knew how to hide his glee at finally getting the monopoly he had long wished for. The aging Stalwart was less happy. The dejected sigh told everything he needed to know.

"Let's not waste our precious time with pleasantries. Stalwart Dust would like to merge with your company. All capital and financial assets are ours, and we have no outstanding promises or debt. Would you agree to letting us stay in management under a generous salary?"

Showing no outward signs of emotion, Augustus opened a drawer on his right and brought out the large contract he had made long in advance. He had been waiting for months now after all. "I think we both know that you are in no position to negotiate pay. To be blunt, you ran a very efficient company but your labor policy dealt you a fatal blow. You will get the starting salary of 145,000 per year, still a rather large amount, and retain control of your sector. If your profits fall below desired levels you will be replaced immediately..." stretching out his hand, Augustus waited for the handshake he knew would come. "Do we have a deal?"

He only had to wait a second before he felt the a wrinkled hand shaking his own. It was Schnee tradition to give company rivals a second chance to prove themselves. It also really helped in getting easy mergers. As rare as they were, for many simply crumbled under the overwhelming force of the Schnee Dust Company, it was nice to have a merger negotiated in under an hour so he could get back to more pressing matters.

With a genuinely pleased, but small, smile Augustus lead his new found employee out of his office before closing the door and smiling smugly at the signed contract. Today was a good day. Now to get back to researching possible investments, approving trade deals, scheduling meetings with politicians, and making sure his daughter had arrived at her destination. The little details of this merger could wait. He didn't have people constantly watching over her, nor did he hack into Beacon's security system. No, he just called the servants that had taken her and her luggage to confirm everything went smoothly.

**A/N: Whelp. That's chapter one. This is my first fanfic so keep that in mind if I ever get anyone to follow or review this. All criticism is welcomed.**

**STORY IS CURRENTLY UNDER MASS EDITING **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter two. I suppose I spoiled the WhiteRose that will be touched on later. To those who do not want to see ANOTHER generic Weiss's father hates Ruby thing don't worry. Augustus is far from your generic Weiss's dad character. If that makes any sense. Also, Augustus is a German name, or at least that's what Google told me. Take it up with them if I'm wrong.**

A Different Perspective

Sweat dripping from his brow, Augustus once more dashed into a melee frenzy with his newly hired instructor. Like his daughter he would be using a rapier with multiple Dust chambers. This was the only thing he had free time for and had started training ever since Weiss had taken an interest in fighting. He wasn't aiming for hunter material, he just needed to be able to defend himself in case of emergency. It helped that it kept his body in shape and was quite entertaining, though he would never tell that to anyone. Hearing the sudden cry of an alarm, Augustus and his opponent stopped fighting and bowed to one another. Their session time was up.

"You're getting better Mr. Schnee. Next time we will be focusing on ranged attacks. If you'll excuse me I have other students to teach."

With a grunt Augustus dismissed him. He hadn't even remembered his name. Robert maybe? It didn't matter really, he was a great fighter but lacked any respect for his betters. The only reason Augustus tolerated it was because this was the man who had trained Weiss into the master she was today. That reminded him. Today was the day that teams would be assigned at Beacon. Hopefully Weiss lived up to the family name and became a leader, otherwise his displeasure would be known. He didn't like treating Weiss like he did, but it was the only way he knew how to push her to her limits. It worked during her weapons training, so why not now?

Besides, Weiss was going to have to get used to the endless pressure their family had to go through every day. The Schnee's all held critical positions in the company, with him being the head of the overall organization and the other Schnee's controlling 'sectors'. He set macro policy, they enforced it on the micro level. A Schnee could only trust another Schnee. All profits not kept in the company coffers were evenly distributed throughout the Schnee dynasty, ensuring incentive to keep the company growing no matter your position on the totem pole. It helped that this allowed them to stay private and avoid the selling of company stock. His father was truly a brilliant man.

Stepping into the bathroom in his office, Augustus undressed and stepped into the shower. Their auras prevented them from feeling cold to a certain extent. Once you got into negative degree weather you were finally in dangerous territory. Allowing his mind to roam, Augustus soon came upon the beautiful face that still haunted his dreams. His wife, Penelope, had never stopped gracing his mind with her presence at night, even after 3 years of absence. That day marked a turning point for Augustus. He used to sympathize with the Faunus cause, even if he kept the same labor policy.

It wasn't like he forced them to work for him, they could seek work elsewhere. It was the rest of societies fault for not protecting them, had humanity cared enough they would have passed laws against the exploitative practices. He didn't bribe the monarch into not passing laws, the only thing he really cared about were tariff levels. As long as they stayed high he was happy.

All sympathetic feelings evaporated when he found a Faunus hunched over his wife with a blade through her gut. That animal was put down with extreme prejudice and soon the Schnee Dust Company was waging a silent war with the White Fang. For every train they wreaked, stole, or destroyed one of their hideouts was raided and everyone inside disposed of. Ironically the cost of this kept him from reforming the current policy. Augustus couldn't afford to miss a single percent of profit due to the company's rapid expansion into other Kingdoms.

It was hard, much harder than anticipated due to high tariffs and a united Dust sector pooling recourses to keep 'foreign money' out. It didn't matter, he already had entire container ships setting off to deliver the highest of quality Dust to the combat schools. He had to take a net loss due to price competition, but that made every dollar all the more valuable.

Heaving a weary sigh Augustus found his "relaxation" time once again ruined by his mind wandering to work. It was all he seemed to do anymore. Stepping out of the cold shower Augustus dried himself and dressed in white sweat pants with a blue t-shirt. He may be rich, but today was one of the few days he didn't have any appointments and by the Gods he was going to take advantage of it.

Honestly he was getting sick of wearing suits. They were comfortable but wearing them nearly every day quickly changed his attitude on that front. Sitting down in at his desk, Augustus brought up his scroll to sift through reports he may have missed during his two hour training session. Eyes lighting up at the message from Beacon, Augustus couldn't wait to send an email to his daughter congratulating her on becoming team leader.

_From: Beacon Academy_

_To: Augustus Schnee_

_Your daughter, Weiss Schnee, has been placed on team RWBY and will remain on that team until the end of her stay here at Beacon. The Team Leader will be Ruby Rose with the other two members of the team being Blake Belladonna and Yang Xia Long. Video of the test is attached to this email along with audio between Weiss and everyone she meets. We thank you once more for choosing Beacon Academy and wish you a good day. _

Augustus Schnee was far from pleased. His good day was quickly turning sour. Watching the five hour long video to its fullest his displeasure only grew the longer he watched. That was not how he raised Weiss to behave. Open arrogance alienates potential allies and causes conflict, clouding the logical mind. Of course her anger was understandable, the slutty looking blonde and red caped wonder did not seem to be the most intelligent of people, or the most respectful. That still did not excuse her actions. Her arrogance had cost her a lead position and stained the family name. A Schnee was supposed to be the best of the best, the epitome of decency, civility, honor and nobility.

What he just saw were the words and actions of a spoiled brat who was unable to think before speaking and let childish urges govern her. Breathing in deeply to calm himself, Augustus opened up an email and addressed it to his daughter.

_To: Weiss Schnee_

_From: Augustus Schnee_

_Weiss, your performance was beyond dismal. You are a Schnee, act like it! I did not raise a failure. You should be leading that team and setting an example. Instead a 15 year old girl beat you. You should be ashamed of yourself. You had years of tutoring from the best money could buy. Don't make me regret sending you to this school. Watch yourself Weiss, if your grades drop below first place there will be consequences. _

Finger over the sent button, Augustus reread the email over and over. Was this really the right approach? He had never been good with children and ever since Penelope died...it was never the same. He and Weiss had grown distant. Too distant. He didn't know anything about his daughter, that much was clear. He had even gone so far as to hide her away from the world for a few months. With the threat of the White Fang looming in every shadow one couldn't be too careful.

Heaving a sigh full of regret, Augustus hit the send button, for this was the only way he knew how to correct wrongs. This was how his father corrected him, with scolding's and put downs. It motivated him to prove his father wrong, and if the results he saw showed anything it was working. Weiss had a brilliant mind and an excellent combat technique, as far as he knew, and could take down those much stronger and faster than her due to her flexible combat style.

Banishing the thoughts of Weiss from his mind, Augustus set his mind to work as he once more signed and stamped his way through paper after paper. The only real thing he had to do today was look over growth rates in each sector, remedial really, and go over reports from the R&D Department on what to invest in and where. Dust wasn't the only industry the Schnee Dust Company had its money in. Genetics research, pharmaceuticals, weapons, education, foods, automobiles. That was only a small part of what Schnee Dust invested in, this was the primary reason the monarch allowed such a monopoly on the Dust resources of the nation.

The Schnee way was to give competitors a chance, to allow for innovation and freedom of trade to an extent. As long as technology progressed, a Schnee will always profit. Stagnation is the primary enemy of an economy and if the economy tanks then profits drop and if profits drop then the Schnee coffers dry up. Unlike most big business or dynasties the Schnee's had an invested interest in the future of the nation and humanity. They were building a better world today for their kids tomorrow, it was selfish, yes, but many people benefit from medical research and charity. Today's topic was weaponry and genetics. Setting aside the many experimental and prototype weapons folders Augustus focused in on the relatively small genetics research folder.

It was only recently that Schnee funded labs had unlocked many secrets hidden in the Faunus and human genome. Yes, they still tried to help out the animals of the land, though with every passing day it seemed more and more futile. Everyone always knew that traits were inherited, but to think that auras could be inherited? Brain formation, skeletal strength and structure, vision, muscle formation, all of it determined through genes! It was truly fascinating, and truly profitable.

Though they would be loathe to admit it, most schools paid for gene research. They wanted to create the perfect grunts to fight the Grimm and start gaining ground. That was another thing that the Schnee dynasty wanted exclusive access to, new land and resources. If they could expand into Grimm territory, Schnee Dust would be able to buy the land from the monarch cheap and develop it as they please, charging rent on those wishing to stay safe in guarded communities. The cities were only getting more and more crowded. He did care for his fellow man, otherwise he would never think about such risky investments, but the company and Schnee name came first. It would always come first. Shaking his head, Augustus got back on track.

This current project was on Faunus and how to make a full-proof way of detecting them. Clothing or plastic surgery could easily hide away ones physical qualities, and demand was high in both their company security and Kingdom security. The White Fang was starting to go after politicians, and the monarch was getting more and more invested in the culture war going on. Apparently a Faunus puts out particular pheromones or 'scents' that humans don't. To top it off they found a few 'base' ones that all Faunus have no matter the animal traits they have. This was actually one of the few biological differences between Faunus and human, people could breed with Faunus, meaning that humans and Faunus are the same species. Faunus were just generally quicker and had more sensitive senses, recent studies suggested higher intellect, but nothing conclusive. Quickly signing the request for double the funding, Augustus worked his way down the few projects there were.

Fertility projects, artificial insemination, 'test tube babies' and eugenics to name a few projects. He usually approved of everything in the genetics section, the more one knew about oneself the better one could become. The military research was a whole other situation. Augustus knew he had to be very careful on what they developed, if things went too fast then an arms race may occur, if too slow then the threat of invasion looms. War, or the threat of it, is good for business, it increases demand for Dust and thus drives prices up, increasing profits. Wars, however, were not profitable. Mines and infrastructure are destroyed, as is the labor force used to operate the machinery used to mine. There was a horrible misconception going around that Faunus were forced deep underground and hand mined all the dust.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. Androids were used to mine to most dangerous parts of a mine, especially an underground one, the Faunus just made up a majority of the underpaid and labor intensive jobs in the company...and Augustus wasn't sure if that was right. It didn't matter anyway, it was the monarch's and citizens job to look after the minority of a country, not a multicounty megacompany. That's what he told himself so he could sleep at night.

Rubbing his temples, Augustus gave a frustrated sigh. His mind always wandered to completely irrelevant topics, it was really off putting. Pressing a small button underneath his desk, Augustus summoned his rabbit Faunus assistant. She was an extremely good worker, always on time and doing as she was told, if a little shy. Walking into his office came a tall rabbit Faunus dressed in a white pencil skirt and light blue long sleeve button up top. The company took it's colors seriously.

"Mrs. Scarlatina, could you please take these folders to Mr. Fall's office? As usual, don't look and don't ask." Pushing the heavy pile of military folders off the edge, Augustus didn't blink an eye at the quick speed and surprising strength shown when his assistant quickly grasped the mountain of manila folders before they fell and inch and quickly made her way out of the room.

Perhaps she deserved a raise with all the carrying she did? Refocusing, Icy blue eyes once more read paper after paper of deal and report as the day went on. The only sounds being his nearly silent breathing and pen curving its way across paper. He didn't sign everything, of course, the deals he thought to be inadequate were simply put into another pile and sent back from whence they came. This was the grind Augustus Schnee submitted himself to everyday, it was the only job and lifestyle he knew.

* * *

It had been a month since Weiss first arrived at Beacon and put on team RWBY. After the initial disappointment of her failing to become a team leader, Augustus was proud to see his daughter's name at the top of the class grades. Sure, it had only been a month, but after getting some Intel on just who was in this school Augustus was pleasantly surprised to see her at the top. Lie Ren was in a close second, but no Ren would ever surpass a Schnee.

The Ren's were a competitor in the far east Kingdoms and were more than a thorn in his side. They were an intelligent dynasty, almost as intelligent as his own he dare say. Seeing that one of Weiss's teammates, Blake, was in a solid third he left a note to himself to get his Intelligence department to look into just who she was. It paid to know ones adversaries on an intimate level, especially if he could help his daughter out later down the line.

Picking up a top priority report from the City of Vale, Augustus couldn't prevent the frown that came to his face. Massive amounts of Dust shipments were being stolen from Schnee owned stores, train depots, and docks. The local authorities blamed it on the White Fang, but Augustus and his many connections knew better. An upstart mobster by the name of Roman Torchwick somehow got his hands deep into the White Fang, the other criminals of the area knew not to mess with Schnee defense systems but somehow this scum was disabling them.

He would have to call the sector manager and see if anything could be done, until then Augustus was going to have to send his lobbyists to the King's court and see if they could pass a bill allowing for business to maintain small defense forces. It was proposed by small businesses and had little chance of passing, the King was a paranoid man. However the right amount of money and some comforting words and he would cave.

Sending an encrypted message down the line, Augustus was just going to have to wait until he could hire real men to protect his shipments. The drones they used now were cheap and counted as 'goods' but it was obvious that they couldn't hold up to the White Fang assaults. They were getting overly aggressive.

Why did they need so much Dust anyway? One could only smuggle so much of it around without being noticed. He would have to order a serious crack-down on the few Faunus freedoms if this kept up. They were the likely culprits when it came to the disabled defense systems. Standing from his office chair, Augustus once more fixed his tie and smoothed out his suit. He had more appointments to do today, one with a Duchess, who was the most important, and others with companies he wished to invest in.

Perhaps he was so busy due to his own paranoia? He never let people negotiate for him if he could help it. Only he was able to get the best results after all. Stepping out of his office door, he dismissed his assistant for the day and moved towards the elevator, giving a small wave as she took the stairs. Faunus had to take the stairs sadly, they couldn't be trusted to be alone in an elevator. Fishing a key from his back pocket, Augustus put it in a slot right above floor 120 and twisted. Only those with top level clearance could get a key for the helipad on top of the monstrous building. Security was not taken lightly at the Company Headquarters.

Stepping out onto the cool concrete, he could once again hear his footsteps as he made his way to the light blue Harrier that awaited his arrival. These planes really were a gods send.

_One Month Later_

The weeks passed in normality. Now that the Schnee Dust Company could maintain a 'small' defense force, they had a small army stationed all over the Kingdom of Vale. Attack frequency and severity were down, and Torchwick had yet to make another appearance since he contacted the Vale City manager. This allowed the Schnee's to counter-attack. It was controversial, as most things they did were, but he and his company had the authority to arrest any Faunus they saw as a threat and hold them for 24 hours. If no evidence was found then they would be forced to release them, but already many White Fang members had been detained and many more sympathizers rooted out. It wasn't illegal to sympathize, but it was highly unpopular, so once they were made they either moved or denounced the White Fang.

That brought Augustus to his latest predicament. A good amount of Faunus detained were later found dead in their cells, often beaten and starved. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, this wasn't supposed to be tolerated! How could a Schnee stand by as these atrocities were committed? Were they not supposed to set the example? Still, this new policy allowed for them to stop attacks before they came, to save money and damages. Were Faunus lives really worth so little? Looking down at his hands, Augustus couldn't help but see the blood of his wife dripping from them. No. Those animals got what they deserved. Far too many Schnee family members were being killed in the most brutal ways. Enough was enough, it was time to crush the White Fang once and for all.

Signing the order to continue the policy, but with a less brutal touch, with a clean conscience Augustus went onto less...taxing matters. Pulling up the monthly report from Beacon a small smile graced his face as he saw that his daughter once more on the top of the charts in every class. That was truly impressive. Blake had moved up to a tight second though...eyes shining with recognition, he swiped his fingers across the screen until he came across the message from the Intelligence department. Eyes dimming the further he read Augustus put his scroll down and rubbed massaged his temples. Today had been going so good too.

Apparently this Blake had been part of the White Fang, video evidence from multiple train attacks was damning enough proof. Nothing had happened to his daughter, so it was obvious that Blake had no intentions of harming her, but this did bring Beacon's screening process into question. How could they have possibly missed this? Why wasn't he informed of this? More importantly, why were they shielding her from the law? He had given those ingrates a year of free Dust as long as they gave him the desired information on Weiss and kept her out of harms way as best they could. Did that smug little Ozpin think he could double cross a Schnee and get away with it? Nobody was above the law, not even a Beacon student.

Picking up his discarded scroll, Augustus called the head of HQ security. They had quite the military force stationed here, and since Beacon was a small flight away, he was going to take care of this personally.

"Can I help you Mr. Schnee?" The head of security wasn't what one would expect. He was actually a very small man with an athletic build. Not that anyone knew that, all soldiers on duty were required to be in full armor all the time.

Like most things Schnee the armor was a mix of light blue and white, with the family crest adorning the angular helmets. For eyes they had glowing blue slits, quite intimidating, and the helmets all had built in gas masks which made for a very crude but angry look. The armor itself was actually very light and relied on the most recent advances in aura harnessing technology. It worked by taking the energy of one's aura and making a force field around the wearer, nothing new, anyone who trained a bit could do that, but this new tech purifies and enhances the protective ability. It was tested to be able to take up to twice the damage without collapsing compared to unarmored hunters.

The hunters would always have a place, they were too fast and weapons still too deadly, but this was a huge leap forward in general military tech. They would at least be able to hold against a hunter or huntress without getting completely slaughtered. The real beauty was the weaponry though. It was the cutting edge in laser technology, and was reminiscent of the old AR-15 combat rifle. The weapon was of course white with the blue family crest on both sides and was rather bulky, but the new HUDs allowed for the tracking of fast targets. Since lasers travel at the speed of light...no hunter or huntress could avoid a well aimed shot. It wasn't lethal enough to cut through anyone just yet, but was well versed in cutting right through aura and burning the target badly.

"Yes, ready twenty of your best men and get me three armed Harriers. You will also be coming. Be ready for heavy resistance, we may be going against a well trained huntress. Meet me on the helipad ASAP."

With that the connection was cut and Augustus once more dismissed his assistant as he left for the day. Blake Belladonna would not be escaping, and not even Ozpin would be able to protect her. He had the authority of the King behind him, and every justification needed to bring this dangerous criminal into custody. Nobody double crosses a Schnee.

**A/N: That's all for chapter two. Now that a lot of the background lore is filled in from Augustus's perspective, I'm going to start picking up the pace a bit. Not every chapter is going to just be one day, that would be...just no. Also, cookies to whoever gets both Easter eggs in this chapter. Yes, there's two.**

****** For those who may be a bit confused by Augustus's character and how he is much different than most characterizations of him. He does not go outside the law and does not blindly hate all Faunus. Another thing is that he actually respects and believes in the law. He will manipulate it, but he believes that if the monarch and people are okay with these laws, then it's not his responsibility to go out of the way to increase equality. The company and family name come first, his own personal moral leanings second. Next time we got quite the confrontation.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I will be updating once a week from now onward. Updated as of May 2nd 2014**

A Different Perspective

The ride to Beacon gave Augustus some time to think about just how to do this. He couldn't just barge in and take Blake from school property with no warning. She had no legal guardians so the school head would have to be informed before they could act. It was just part of the law, and he intended to follow the law. The problem would be convincing Ozpin to let go without a fight, be it legal or physical. Augustus was in his usual attire, light blue tie with white pants and white suit, so he could just go right to Ozpin's office and tell him before carting the girl away.

That was what he would do. He still needed to find out just what he was thinking letting a past member of the White Fang anywhere near his daughter. A small tap on his shoulder told him that they had arrived. Show time.

Stepping out of the lead airship, Augustus was met with the surprised and mildly shocked faces of many hunters in training. They had landed in the court yard just in front of the main building and the Schnee crest adorning the light blue and white craft got the respect it deserved. Hearing a small beep coming from his earpiece Augustus marched forth with twenty elite guards flanking him. None tried to stop him as he made his way to the doors and shoved them open, he knew where to go due to past deals with this famous institution.

Ice blue eyes scanned the halls for any signs of team RWBY but found none as they approached Ozpin's office. Giving the door three solid knocks, Augustus waited for the signal to come in. He may be here to apprehend a student, but that was no reason to be rude and simply barge his way into private offices. That was just plain barbaric.

Hearing Ozpin say the magic words of 'Please, come in.' Augustus opened the polished wooden doors and suppressed his emotions when Ice blue eyes met each other and locked in practiced defiance. It seemed team RWBY was currently meeting with the headmaster. Shifting his sight from his daughter and ignoring the sleazily dressed blonde Augustus met the angry gaze of yellow cat Faunus eyes. His target was just two or three yards away.

"Mr. Schnee, to what do I-"

"Cut the crap, you know damn well why I'm here. Did you really think I wouldn't find out?" His voice could chill the hearts of many veteran warriors, but the cursed headmaster just sipped his damn coffee with a smirk on his face.

"Father, why are you here?" There was Weiss, and did her voice seem a bit shaky? The team leader, Ruby, looked like she had a few choice words but kept her mouth shut. Good. At least some people had respect.

"Stay out of this Weiss. I'm here to regretfully inform all of you that Blake Belladonna is under arrest for damaging private property, acts of terrorism, being associat-"

"What do you mean she's under arrest?! You can't come in here and just arrest whoever the hell you want to!" It seemed Yang didn't share his feelings of distrust towards her teammate. Understandable.

"I am well within my authority to arrest Miss Belladonna. She is an ex-member of the White Fang and has on multiple occasions stole Dust and destroyed Schnee property. Ozpin over there knows damn well he cannot do a single thing to stop me, hence why he is not interfering. Now stand aside." Motioning forward two of his men, Augustus crossed his arms as the Faunus seemed to back away and slowly reach for her weapons. Before any shots could be fired Yang intercepted his men and shoved them back.

"Like hell I'm letting _you _of all people take my teammate away!" Recognizing the threat, the rest of his men fanned out and pointed their weapons at the group of teens, excluding Weiss, and waited for the order to fire.

"Miss Long, step aside or you _will _be fired upon. Its two verse-"

"Make that three! As team leader I won't let you take Blake away! She's changed!" In a flash of red and roses the small fifteen year old girl stood beside Yang and drew Crescent Rose, defiantly standing between Augustus and the criminal.

"Changed or not, that does not change what she has done. Headmaster, if you do not control your students immediately I will be forced to investigate this school and its screening procedures. You may be charged with aiding and harboring a wanted criminal." His voice ice cold, Augustus was done playing with these naive children. He would have to have a talk with Weiss later about associating with such imbeciles. For now the two huntresses in training would have to be dealt with, and while his threat did seem to sober the grey haired professor, he still made no move to intervene.

"Very well. You have until the count of three to move before we riddle you full of holes."

"One" Silver and Red met Ice as the two teens glared in defiance. The Faunus still hid behind them like the coward she was.

"Two" Ruby seemed to finally grasp the reality of the situation and looked pleadingly at his daughter. Like that could shake the convictions of a Schnee. He didn't even bother to look at Weiss as he prepared to give the order to fire, so to say he was shocked when snow white glyphs impeded his vision was an understatement.

"Father, please. Don't do this." She was placated and nervous, but that did nothing to calm the fury building in his gut.

"You dare protect this criminal! This animal!" That was an unforgivable insult. After all the training he paid for, all the strings he pulled to get her here, she repaid him with this betrayal?! She didn't even have the spine to stand up on her own two feet and look him in the eye.

"N-No! I dare to protect my friend!"

"Your friend? Have you any idea what they have done to us? To you?!"

"It doesn't matter! That's all in the past! We need to forgive the-"

Augustus didn't know why he did it. Well, that was a lie. He knew why he did it, he just couldn't believe that he did. Closing the distance, Augustus towered over Weiss and grabbed her by her snow white jacket, pulling her up to eye level.

"Those animals killed your mother! They kill our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers all while demanding 'equal treatment'! But it doesn't matter. You've already messed this entire thing up. You disappoint me, Weiss, I thought you were worthy of the family name." Composing himself, Augustus turned his back without looking back. "You'll be hearing from the King soon enough. Let's go men, my failure of a daughter is preventing us from giving that criminal the justice she doesn't deserve."

The only thing that could prevent the arrest of a Faunus by Schnee authorities was the objection of another Schnee. Then the government authorities would have to handle all affairs, it was made to prevent bickering families from black-mailing workers in sensitive areas. Boarding his aircraft, Augustus couldn't stop the feeling of regret that seeped into his soul as he sat down and stared at the metal floor. What had he been thinking?

**AN: Thass all for this chapter. This is very OOC for Augustus, but it's meant to be that way. The very last person he really trusted betrayed him in his eyes, for a Faunus no less. This does shed some light on just why the Schnee family hates Faunus so much though. People don't wake up in the morning rubbing their hands together in glee thinking about who they are going to mistreat today, or how are they going to be evil. Everyone fights for what they believe is right, and Augustus is no different. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I think I'm going to try and up the amount of words per chapter from now on. If it doesn't interrupt the flow then I'll do it, but the chapters are structured like they are to let it flow easily into the next chapter. At least that was my intention. **

A Different Perspective

The ride back to headquarters was tense and quiet, nobody dared to speak without being spoken to. For the first time in many months Augustus was heading back to the Schnee estate that he alone owned. Most families shared due to the sheer size of most estates, but after his wife died nobody other than he and his daughter lived there. Stepping off the Harrier, Augustus dismissed the crew with a small wave and walked down the long winding path that lead to the main entrance. Maids and servants maintained the land and home, but he had ordered them all home long before he arrived. The greenery hiding the entrance did not disappoint, but he wasn't feeling especially passionate about artwork at this point.

Finally arriving at the large white polished doors, he pulled out another set of keys from his back pocket. Getting the needed key he quickly opened the door and without a sound slid himself inside. Just as fast as he opened the door he shut and locked it. The entryway was complex, overly so, with many pieces of art adorning the light blue walls. It lead down a long hallway and into an ever grander study which was one of the few rooms that had a color other than white or blue. This was his little sanctuary. With a warm fire lit in the main fireplace he was once more reminded as to why he loved this room so much.

His wife had designed this room from top to bottom, and it was completely her. A green and red rug running the entire length of the room, it prevented footsteps from echoing off the soulless walls of the estate. There would be a wall if it wasn't covered in bookshelves, in her short lifetime Penelope had always loved to read, to learn. This room was a testament to that fact, it also showed that her inner warmth had survived the many years of wealthy living and cold business meetings.

She actually read to Weiss here in this room, telling the young girl tales of glory, adventure, and love. He couldn't even remember what those two looked like together, the only thing he could see were bloody hands and blank grey eyes looking back at him. Shuddering at the memory, Augustus pushed it to the back of his mind and sat down in one of the two green recliners by the fire. Penelope had always loved the color green.

Eyes closed, Augustus replayed the events that had just transpired in his head over and over again. Each time the shocked look and hurt eyes of his daughter ate at the wall surrounding his heart. It wasn't that he didn't care for Weiss as a person, no, she was far from a simple investment. She was his _daughter _for Gods sake. He tried, he really did, but nothing he did seemed to make Weiss happy.

He could give her everything but the one thing she needed, and that was love, he couldn't tell her, express it even. His heart had long since turned to solid ice, but that didn't mean he didn't care! That was Penelope's child, she was the product of a happy life and happier marriage. Every time he looked at her a twinge of hurt passed through his heart. She looked so much like her mother, the only exception being the color of her hair and eyes.

After his wife was killed Augustus dedicated himself solely to working. He couldn't stand to be in the same home that he held Penelope for the last time in, nor could he sleep in the same bed that they had shared for many years. He hired the best nannies he could find, all of them were kind and loving people, surely that had been enough?

Augustus knew that he wasn't always there for Weiss but...to think he was a bad father? Never! He hadn't laid a hand on her, well, until today. He was always there to push her to be her best when she really needed it, he bought the best instructors and allowed her to indulge in every whim. Hell, he even let her run some of the business when she asked. It wasn't anything too important, but just allowing her to participate showed just how much he trusted her judgment. To think that great mind was being perverted by that Faunus bitch...

_"I dare to protect my friend!" _

Shooting up in his seat, Augustus couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine. Here he was, the self proclaimed father of the year, plotting to take away one of the few friends Weiss had. Ever had, really, but even that was his doing. For two years after the assassination he had stopped just above everyone from coming into the home and even kicked the rest of the family out. He kicked all of Weiss's friends out. All because he was paranoid.

He really was a shitty father wasn't he? He didn't know Weiss's favorite food, music, book, hobby, movie, game or really...anything. The only thing he knew was her name and that she loved the color white. Heaving a heavy sigh, Augustus forced himself up from his seat and shuffled his way up the marble white stairs, footsteps echoing off the hollow halls.

Walking down the hall towards a guest room, Augustus paused at the door that lead to his daughter's room. Surely this would be an invasion of privacy? It didn't matter, Weiss no longer lived here, nor did she ever really wish to again. Opening the white wood door, the Schnee patriarch realized that he had never actually been in this room before. How could he be so neglectful? So forgetful? He worked so hard to provide for Weiss, to give her everything she wanted, but it mostly fell flat on its face. Why couldn't he be the father she needed so desperately wanted him to be? He did everything right, provided her with people who cared for her, gave her any book, CD, device, lesson or training she wanted or asked for. He kept her safe from the White Fang though home schooling from the best teachers around in all the Kingdoms.

He still had not looked inside Weiss's room, and with deathly silence slowly shut the door and locked it. He wouldn't be able to look at it, it was a testament to his failure as a father. Once more moving through the dark empty halls Augustus soon found himself in one of the many guest rooms that littered the property. Slipping in and undressing, he made his way into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Not allowing the water to warm, he simply stepped inside the glass prison and did what he had to.

No more than fifteen minutes later he was laying in bed with a white wife beater and blue boxers on. In the darkness Augustus listened for any signs of life before curling up on himself. There was not a sound to be heard outside of his shaky breathing. The only things he would see and hear in his dreams were the dead grey eyes of his wife and the blood curdling scream he heard before opening the door to their bedroom.

_Next day _

Waking with a groan, Augustus uncurled himself into a stretch and yawned. Seeing the clock tell the time of 6:30 he was content with the knowledge that he could at least wake up on time. He had a lot of work to do, especially if he was to start being the father he was supposed to be. Gathering himself and dressing in some light blue sweat pants, Augustus quickly made his way to the study and picked up his scroll.

He was going to have to call off all his appointments today, something else needed taking care of. Sending the message to Mrs. Scarlatina that informed her to clear his entire schedule, Augustus got to contacting his agents within the government. He had some strings to pull.

Making crimes or criminals disappear wasn't exactly a hard thing to do, especially if you were a Schnee in Vale. With society advancing at a rapid rate, the electronic booking and cataloging of information was still very centralized. The Schnee Dust Company often took all the experts in the field and charged the monarchy a small fee for advice on how to organize and secure the information. Little did they know that they had placed small back doors into the 'secure' database and any Schnee could access 'confidential' information with proper authorization from his department of security, whom first asked him.

While underhanded, this made sure that the Schnee dynasty could avoid catastrophic investments in fraudulent government projects and it allowed them to further work towards stabilizing the economy of the Vale kingdom itself. With access to government research they could avoid wasteful spending in military investments and colonization attempts. The taxes in Vale were high, almost to the point of theft, but due to the still rapid growth of GDP this was sound policy, once the economy slowed then they would...adjust some rates for the population and business with a few well placed bribes.

Refocusing himself, Augustus finally found the criminal profiles sections and started shifting through profile after profile until he found the one he was looking for. Selecting Blake Belladonna, he read up on her criminal history before humming to himself and deleting the entire profile. Further erasing the existence of his daughter's beloved Faunus he found her civilian profile and deleted that one too. Apparently nobody knew who exactly her real parents were, all the better. There was no going back now, he had officially broken the law without a shadow of a doubt. The contracts they signed with the government were vague enough to allow them access to information but not modify it, what he had done was just erase a person's very existence. That was a far cry from simple observation.

Contacting the recently founded Bank department of Schnee Dust , Augustus got everything he needed to allow that Faunus Blake to live a semblance of a normal life now that all her information was wiped from Vale's government stores. He couldn't believe he was doing this, this went against all his values when it came to business practice and ethics. Still, it was worth it to clear his mind of that heartbroken expression Weiss wore when he left. Anything but seeing that. Leaving a note to himself to readjust that Beacon arrangement, seeing as they had completely broken their end of the deal, Augustus opened a email to send to his daughter to warn her of what he had just done.

_To: Weiss Schnee_

_From: Augustus Schnee_

_Good morning, I am sending this to inform you that all charges levied against your Faunus friend have been dropped. The consequence of this being that she no longer exists in any public record. I will deal with Beacon when it comes to payment for her schooling seeing as they owe me for dropping all allegations against them for harboring a criminal. Miss Belladonna will be receiving an envelope from the Schnee Dust Company Banking Department, do not allow her to shred this or damage it, this is her only hope of living a normal life. Inside will be a blue card, this card can be used to purchase anything she may need or want, but excessive use of this card will result in it the account being frozen and all transactions above $500 will have to be manually approved. That is all, keep your grades up. _

Content with the message, Augustus pressed send and leaned back into his chair. All this had taken around an hour and half to do, relatively short, but he still needed to go through all the small details of this and go meet Ozpin sometime. They would not be getting that free Dust any longer, that was for sure, and Blake's education fees would have to be negotiated as well. Other than that, Augustus was...less sad than he was not too long ago. He was still far from the father he wished to be, hell, he didn't even apologize for doing what he did yesterday but...this was a start, and that would have to do for now.

**AN: Whoo. Some denial and angst in this one folks. Hope you enjoyed! Reviews and criticism is welcome. Edited as of May 2nd 2014. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Just to clarify, the 'Harriers' are the grey Osprey looking aircraft we first see in episode one. Those gigantic ones will play a role later on, but that would be spoiling if I told you anymore. **

A Different Perspective

Setting up an appointment with the headmaster of Beacon was actually much harder than anticipated. It seemed like they were very wary of letting him come down to their school again, which was understandable, but they caved after a week of no Dust resupply. One would be surprised about the amount of Dust needed to maintain equipment, especially electronics. It wasn't very efficient; with resupply of a simple fridge needing to be done every three to four days you could only imagine how much was needed to maintain a building or complex such as Beacon.

They were actually working on finishing a new refining process that would increase efficiency to more acceptable levels. This would increase the availability of electronics to the lower classes and increase profits, contrary to popular belief making equipment need less Dust to operate allowed for bigger profits in the long run. In the short run growth would stagnate, but this was negated due to recent acquisitions in the industrial sector. They would be able to flood stores full of products once Dust prices dipped, this would increase demand due to more people needing Dust to maintain their new standard of living.

Green lighting the increase in funding to R&D Augustus moved onto the next dilemma of the day. He had to meet with Ozpin tomorrow at 7:00 AM but writing up the new contract could wait, so he delved further into reading a very recent deal bartered by one of his family members overseas. A local Baron was offering to use Schnee Dust exclusively as long as they stationed troops there to defend his city.

This wasn't too uncommon, with the military forces of most Kingdoms stretched thin patrolling borders and maintaining peace in disputed regions local police were often undermanned and had underfunded. Due to a general world-wide economic recession crime rates were rather high as of late; the new law in Vale allowing them to field security forces was approved by most other world leaders, with only Far Eastern Kingdoms refusing to acknowledge the resolution. Schnee Dust was an international entity, and any law affecting it's base of operations was either approved of or denied in other Kingdoms. It was in their best interests to keep Schnee money invested in their Kingdom, so most regulations affecting Schnee Dust were universal.

The problem with this specific deal was that 'defending' this Baron's city meant barring Faunus refugees and immigrants from entering into city limits no matter their story. The King this Baron served was one of the more tolerant Kings, and routinely encouraged Faunus to move to inside the Kingdom for protection. Really it was all a ploy to increase his tax base so he could field a larger army, tolerance was usually a justification used to exploit Faunus. Schnee Dust had many protectorate cities, least that was what Augustus called them, both within and outside of Vale.

However Schnee Dust was running out of manpower, there were only so many mercenaries they could hire. Most able bodied people were recruited into the military as the King saw fit, though these recruitment programs often targeted the poor who had no way of escaping poverty. That wasn't to say that there were no poor, homeless, or regular citizens. Any King worth his salt knew one had to have a population to tax, so most recruits were voluntary and only in times of crisis were blanket drafts done.

Rejecting the proposed deal, Augustus began rewriting Schnee foreign policy. No more offers of protection were to be given and if approached representatives were to automatically decline unless it had a profit margin of 35%. In those cases they were to be wired to his personal scroll for review. With the press of a finger Schnee policy was now changed and all parties involved were immediately informed.

This was actually the primary reason Schnee Dust was so heavily invested in cyber security, almost all internal information was exchanged through encrypted messaging in its own internal emailing service. With employees all over the world Schnee Dust also developed its own translation program built into the email service. Augustus was actually about to license this tech out to a few of the larger Kingdoms, Vale included, provided the government only imported Schnee Dust to fuel its public buildings and war machine. They stood to gain billions from these exclusive trade deals. They would soon need to increase mining efforts if they were to keep up with demand.

That brought up another developing situation. Faunus were beginning to be a majority in some Kingdoms, meaning Faunus had equal rights in these Kingdoms. That wasn't the case in Vale, Faunus still made up a small portion of the population here, but trade embargoes were gaining traction in some foreign courts. Perhaps reformation of labor policy was in order, though Augustus still couldn't bring himself to understand just what the big problem was. It wasn't like his workers were treated that badly, they were only denied most luxuries, such as access to elevators, and paid less for the same work. Company policy stated that employees would work as much as they could under the law, and in most Kingdoms there was no protection or policy set to limit work hours on Faunus, so Faunus were worked twelve hours a day six days a week. Surely that wasn't too horrible?

Fatality rates were at an all time low, a mere 2%, and like all Schnee employees they were paid a salary. Hourly pay was just ludicrous, you get hired to work diligently because you want to better yourself, not to just make more money. While the salaries for Faunus were lower, it wasn't extortive. The reason so many Faunus worked those jobs was because other businesses wouldn't hire them, so they should be grateful to at least have a job!

Either way, foreign relations was always a very sensitive balancing act. Money couldn't solve everything when it came to trade walls or tariffs. Nationalism and patriotism fueled most of the resistance, but sometimes competing business lobbied to make it next to impossible to get any share of the market in their country. Good thing Schnees were good at doing the impossible. Already they dominated the Dust markets in neighboring Kingdoms and were slowly gaining ground in the consumer markets.

Not long ago the Schnee Dust Company's Industry Department finally got a monopoly on the Indusial Sector in Vale. He now controlled the means of production and could make what products he deemed fit to sell. Often times departments would cooperate and before a technological advance that would grant the poor access to more Dust using devices inventory would rise so they alone could restock both abroad and domestically. It was this tactic that made Vale one of the main exporters of consumer goods and one of the few industrial powerhouses of the world.

The Company itself was actually very decentralized, with most decisions being made by appointed managers or family members who were deemed skilled enough to handle such decisions. No matter how smart one was you could only get so much done as a single person, so delegation was key to running a large corporate empire. That being said, Augustus still had to approve of most trade contracts and oversaw all macro company policy, nobody could override his authority. Even though he was the head of the company, this next change in policy was guaranteed to cause massive backlash throughout the company. He was just going to change the pay given to Faunus employees, but in the incredibly racist Kingdom of Vale this would divide the country in opinion on whether or not it was right to 'cave' to international pressure.

This was sure to gain him some credibility in the growing Faunus Kingdoms, but it would also cause the loss of respect with the more radical in human society. It really didn't matter, equality was an eventuality, he would rather be on the winning side of history than not. With a few words and strict orders to not dispute said orders the wage gap between Faunus and human was changed from 45% to 35%. This was already calculated to be the optimal raise in the grand scheme of things, it would come off as genuine but not obscene. Change occurred in tiny adjustments, not radical sweeps.

The media were going to have a field day with this, speculating if he had some secret Faunus lover or if the Schnee Dust Company was going soft. They were the real rats of the world, if anyone made money of the misery of others it would have to be people in media. They loved sad stories and tragic endings, it was what got them good ratings. Feeling the hours of thinking, signing, stamping, denying and sitting in the same damn spot catching up to him, Augustus looked at the clock on his desk and sighed.

It was well past time he stop working. His assistant was likely done with everything she needed to do and was simply waiting until he dismissed her. Dismissing her from his scroll, Augustus got up from his desk with a groan. It felt like it had been years since he last moved and the popping of his bones supported that thought. After his wife died he had a bedroom installed inside of his office, if he didn't have appointments it wasn't uncommon for him to never leave his office. Working was what a Schnee was good at and Augustus had made it into an art. Staying in his sweats and white T-shirt, Augustus threw himself onto his bed and fell asleep no more than a minute later. His little Faunus helper would wake him if he overslept.

_Next Day_

Boarding a solitary Harrier with the escort of two guards, Augustus was soon to be en-route to Beacon Academy to renegotiate their deal with Dust supplying and to see if he could get his daughter's Faunus friend through the rest of school free of charge. It was rather puzzling to him how she even paid for it in the first place, perhaps some left over money from her White Fang escapades? It was also possible that she was admitted free of charge seeing as Ozpin obviously knew of her past. He was a clever man, too clever for comfort, though being the head of Vale's most prestigious school would do that to someone.

The ride was quick, a few upgrades to the efficiency of Dust allowed higher top speeds to be reached, though Augustus wasn't eager to share Company secrets on this tech, even if it would reward him with a mountain of money. There was just a certain advantage of being able to go faster than any possible pursuers he wasn't quite willing to give up.

Standing, Augustus once more looked himself over, standard getup once more. It was the same look he had when he last came here just over a week ago, though it looked like none of the students were up at seven in the morning to gawk at the obvious display of wealth and power like last time. Striding through the halls with a confidence few possessed, he didn't even have to pause at the doors to Ozpin's office as they automatically opened for him. Motioning for his escort to wait outside, Augustus walked to the green chair that sat in front of the headmaster's desk.

A smooth voice greeted him as he sat "Good morning Mr. Schnee. I hope our meeting can be much more...productive than last time." Sipping his mug to hide a rather obvious smirk, Augustus had to give credit where credit was due, this man had quite the confidence to be saying such things to him.

"Yes, though I'd like to just move on from that debacle. As I'm sure you've noticed we have stopped supplying you with Dust due to your failure to meet your side of the agreement. There will be no argument on technicalities of the past arrangement since there was no contract. I'm sure you'll agree to the reasonable price of 10,000 per ton?"

Yes, prices were negotiated by ton due to the need of Dust for just about everything. Least that was how suppliers did prices, sellers did the pound negotiation, and 5 dollars a pound was still a steal.

"I think you would much rather have this..." Waving his hand over his desk, a hologram of the nearby training grounds came up with very obvious Dust deposits below it. "After many, many years of training the Grimm of this area are nearly extinct. Already we have new grounds that the students are currently getting...accustomed to."

"So you give me exclusive mining rights to that forest and you get free Dust?"

"Essentially, yes. You can mine Dust much faster than we could ever hope to consume it. You won't have to pay us anything and the deposits are far enough away from the school to allow your operations to be inconspicuous enough." Reaching into a drawer Ozpin pulled out a small stack of papers. "I even have all conditions covered and the contract written."

Pulling the packet of papers into his lap, Augustus studied the print with a refined speed and continued. "Would you mind explain to me why exactly you have an ex-White Fang member in your school? I'm sure you know that no charges will be brought upon you, but my curiosity is getting the better of me."

Without missing a beat the aging professor responded. "Here at Beacon we believe that everyone is capable of being a hunter or huntress. We give those who are forgotten or mistreated a second chance and turn them into heroes. That is the philosophy that governs this school, so I saw no reason as to why an ex-criminal should be denied entrance."

Did he really believe that? "That's noble and all, but I'm assuming that everyone still pays to learn, correct?"

"Actually, Miss Belladonna's time here at Beacon is already paid for. As are most student's education. Only those who can truly afford it are made to pay."

Flipping through more pages Augustus was still disbelieving of that tale. "So how exactly are you paying for all this then? The teachers, books, Dust, equipment, and property? All this can't be free."

"You're right about that. We have many investors who pay for these things, and the King has graciously exempt us from all forms of tax. I'm sure you familiar with the perks of government support."

"Mmm. This contract is satisfactory. Though you shouldn't insult your betters."

Taking out his own pen, Augustus signed the contract as needed. This little deal would be pure profit, with no royalties or taxes to pay on the land it was almost too good to be true. Learning just how Beacon operated gave him a few ideas on future investment. Perhaps he should look into funding combat schools? They would certainly make great additions to the Schnee defense forces.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." Extending his hand, Augustus smirked as he felt a hand grasp his own "I hope we can stay in contact, we could have quite the profitable partnership."

"I'll keep that in mind Mr. Schnee. Don't be a stranger, your daughter does study here after all."

With one more respectful bow, both men disengaged and went their separate ways. Augustus had to deal with the fallout of the Faunus pay raise while Ozpin had just ran out of coffee.

**AN: Warning for next chapter, its going to be a lot of lore building when it comes to tech, especially on biology of Grimm and the political climate.**

**Edited as of May 2nd 2014**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Here we are. Lore heavy warning. This stuff will be relevant later on and may or may not be repeated. If you want to skip go ahead but I don't advise it. This is very crucial. **

A Different Perspective

It had been a full month since Augustus had made his deal with Ozpin and already machinery and workers were mining the large forest for Dust. It was estimated that one million tons of Dust were under the school training ground, meaning they would make at least make twenty billion if they kept the standard price of 20k per ton. If recent reports were to be believed then he was going to need every cent of that, and fast.

All over the world Faunus rebellions were springing up, supported by the recent Faunus Kingdoms and rise in Human Kingdoms who wanted equality for their brethren. The political stage was a very delicate one, with Western nations competing with Eastern ones as the two cultures clashed. Already the world was tense, this was simply adding more fuel to the growing pile of flammables and if what was being reported was true then it may very well ignite the flames of war. These rebellions had yet to make their way en-mass to Vale, but in more oppressed neighboring countries human and faunus alike marched through the streets demanding representation, equality, an end to corruption and the dismantlement of the monarchy itself. In normal monarch fashion the response was swift, rioters were declared traitors and rounded up, sometimes with lethal force being applied. Already videos and images of massacres were sweeping the net and horrifying billions.

That being said, there was very little the Schness could do to stop the cascading effect these open rebellions had. Where these people got weapons and how they organized even he did not know, but this may be the reason the White Fang stole all the dust that they did. The sad part about it was that if they had been more peaceful the monarchs may have tolerated the demonstrations, but since they wanted the heads of their lords the only things they got in response were gunshots or jail cells. Still, this paled in comparison to the news he received two days ago. The Grimm were moving, thousands of them deep in the unmapped regions humanity had yet to explore. Hunter outposts were going silent and those still active were being recalled to more fortified areas and Beacon professors were on standby for immediate mobilization.

The Schnee Dust Company was one of the few organizations that invested heavily in Grimm biology research. Most believed the fairy tales about them having no souls and being the spawn of a great evil, but those who did their research knew better. They lived like most animals did, competing for territory, resources and control. Just why they hated humans so much had yet to be determined, but all the species of Grimm are very closely related.

How such specializations and adaptations came to be in the matter of decades baffled the best of scientists, it did not help that aura research was slow and relatively new. People had refined aura manipulation for centuries, but only recently did they have to technology available to study it, so just why Grimm had no aura and just what aura was were both unanswered questions.

This brought Augustus to his current dilemma, the combat schools of Vale were all private institutions, meaning they had no obligation to tell the monarch of their discoveries, and it seemed like they wanted to keep Grimm movements hidden. Just why was beyond him, but they were the experts in the field, quite literally, and so he trusted their judgment, but up until now the Schnee dynasty had yet to get directly involved in the struggle against the ruthless beasts. So when Ozpin requested that Schnee defense forces be used to help hold the line against the Grimm, he was understandably shocked and rather angry.

This was why they had a military in the first place, to handle the Grimm threat should the hunter schools ever fail to contain them. What made him think he was going to exhaust the fortune he had built over the years to kill Grimm when others could do it much better than him?

However, Ozpin was an intelligent man, surely he wouldn't let pride stop him from averting the possible death of millions? Was the monarch not to be trusted? He had ordered Intelligence to look into anything Grimm related in classified government files but just about nothing showed up...and maybe that was the problem. The King and his military were trained to deal with other people, not Grimm, the rulers of Vale had grown complacent and stopped worrying over the constant threat of the Grimm, thinking the hunter schools would always have them controlled.

The King was much more interested in conquering faraway lands. It made sense, for centuries Beacon and schools like it held the line and even pushed back the Grimm, but now the war of attrition was starting to take a heavy toll. Since the schools themselves decided to suffer in silence there was not much the King could do to help them since they never asked for help.

Even if the schools did alert him now it would be too late, by their own predictions the Grimm would be concentrated around the City of Vale and be at Beacons doorstep in three months. Like that it clicked. Ozpin never wanted to give him those training grounds, the Grimm did not just up and disappear, he and the elite had gone through the forest and killed them all. That smug bastard gave him a reason to want to defend that territory, he was going be forced into action when the Grimm would enviably attack his mining operation.

The City of Vale was actually an isolated city located in "Grimm territory" and was on the side of a huge salt water river. However its size and unique culture meant that it attracted many tourists and had the money to host tournaments, it was a rather cultured city for being so far into the danger zone. The rest of civilization rested on the opposite side of the river, meaning it was isolated and a perfect target for any organized Grimm attack.

What he should do is take his daughter away from that damn school and leave the city to its fate. Save his money, men, equipment and abandon the dust reserves he had been given. Why not just let the Grimm have the lone city? Surely the people there would just be able to move to some other, safer city and live their lives just fine.

Was it right though to just abandon these people to die horrible deaths though? Wasn't he always claiming that Schnees should set the example, to do the honorable thing and stand up for those who could not? Was it worth the money and resources to desperately hold onto a likely doomed city? He still had a month or two to think about it, it's not like he had to immediately respond, though it would have been nice to do so.

Forgetting about that whole issue Augustus once more focused on company research matters. The aura barrier technology was advancing at astounding rates and would soon be applied to aircraft, tanks and other human driven vehicles. Even better was the improvement in alloy making; current synthetic metals used in war machines were extremely strong and able to take aura, laser, and explosive hits without being compromised. The only real weakness to the armor was how thin it was, making metals on a mass production scale was still expensive so thinning out the material was the easiest way of mass producing vehicles that used synthetic metals.

However, a new breakthrough in synthetic metal making was making thicker armor more practical. Pair that with the new aura barrier tech and you had one tough machine. Unfortunately infantry still used natural metals because synthetic alloy was just too heavy for normal people to wear, though hunters may have a easier time in wearing something like that...they would have to do a study on that sometime.

The only problem with all these rapid advances in military tech was the cost of rearming and refitting the existing equipment, but having the most up to date hardware was well worth the money. It would take about another month before the improved aura barriers were out of prototype and on the production line, from there it would take maybe a week to refit and train the mercenaries. It wasn't that hard to use, he was even going to get one due to just how small they were. Signing his approval for the rearming of his small army, Augustus drowned himself in paperwork and deals so he wouldn't have to think about what he was going to do with Vale City. The hunters and huntresses could take care of it, just as they always had.

**AN: Shorter chapter here, though its full of crucial info to the verse I've set up here. Was actually surprisingly hard to write. Reviews are welcome as always. Edited as of May 5th 2014. **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey guys, I have a favor to ask of you. After looking through some graphs on the story management thing on my account that about 50-60 percent of first time clickers/viewers continue on into the story, but I have about 1 review. I'm not looking for favs or follows, rather I would appreciate if you could just write a quick review so I can improve. I do have a kind of self-fixing editing style, and I do know what to look for, but I want to know what you think of the way I write this story and your thoughts on anything else. It's hard to write both for myself and this site if I don't get any criticism at all, so if you read the whole way through just leave a little something so I can build up my writing ability. Now that that little plug is done with let's get it started!**

A Different Perspective

It had been a week since Ozpin had contacted him about the encroaching Grimm and things were looking up for Augustus and his company as well as the world. After convincing the King of Vale to grant rights to Faunus and Human alike, which was rather easy because all the King needed to know was that these rights would increase productivity and thus land him more money, other neighboring Kingdoms quickly followed. Vale was the economic powerhouse of the region and pissing off its King was not a wise thing to do, especially when he could cripple your economy with the simple order of an embargo.

With tolerance being forced down people's throats humanity was forced to accept that faunus were just like them, except they had bunny ears or a tail. Augustus had never understood the blind racism that ran rapid through his homeland, he didn't trust faunus at all but that was because most faunus he encountered tried to either gouge his eyes out or were obviously thinking of doing so. Security was the main reason faunus were not allowed simple luxuries in the company, whenever he did grant them these things elevators broke down and cameras went missing. Unfortunately nobody ever seemed to listen to him when he told them this; the public just thought he was a racist. How crude of them.

The small internal crisis that accompanied the raise in pay for faunus was now properly dealt with. Anyone who refused to increase the pay of their workers was swiftly removed and replaced with someone that would listen. It wasn't their place to reject company policy, they could question all they like but at the end of the day you were expected to obey the commands of your superiors. Disobedience was not tolerated; family or not you would be removed and reprimanded. It was a bit cruel, with employees who were fired for not obeying orders they were never given employment at a Schnee owned business again, and since Schnees owned a vast majority of business within Vale it was rather hard to get work outside of Schnee influence.

Augustus had little sympathy for those fired though, they were the ones who signed the contract and agreed to both the job description and disciplinary actions. Really they only had themselves to blame. Family members would be forced out of their position and not allowed to interact with the company for an undetermined period of time. Basically you were gotten rid of and forgotten unless you proved yourself worthy of reemployment, so family was still given preferential treatment.

With the threat of war not so imminent and civil dissent dissolving the Schnee dynasty could once more get back to what it did best; making money. Already they had deals with foreign Kings to get exclusive rights to dust deposits on government owned land, in return the Schnee Dust Company would invest heavily in economic development and the Kings would be able to reap the benefits of a booming industrial sector. It wasn't like the Schnee dynasty lost anything when these countries finally started industrializing, soon Schnee Dust would start investing in artificial farming techniques so they could corner the food sector of the region. The plan was to become the dominant force regionally and use the massive profits to offset the losses of breaking into far away markets.

That wasn't to say their dust wasn't used all over the world, they had already become the number one energy supplier of the world, the end plan was to break into the far east markets and get a piece of the exotic goods that came from there. If they could control production in the west and the exotic goods of the east then Schnee Dust would be making profit no matter the economic situation.

If the west hit hard times and exotics from the east stopped being imported then they could rely on the slow but steady westernization of the east to keep the factories pumping out more and more goods. If the east fell on hard times and couldn't import western machinery then they could rely on the importing of goods from the west to keep workers employed. Only under the worst circumstances were employees fired outside of disciplinary action, if the consumers had no job or income then they couldn't consume. This would only deepen and lengthen any economic rescission or depression.

That was years away though, they still had to modernize the farming techniques before ramping up production with more factories. Society as a whole had yet to fully adapt and comprehend to the rapidly advancing tech dust allowed. It wasn't long ago that many still walked to get around, and now they had tanks and aircraft going the speed of sound! It was understandable that farmers had yet to look into possible ways to industrialize farming, but luckily for everyone Schnee Dust already had prototypes being tested that would allow huge plots of land to be maintained by a small group of people.

This would force farmers to emigrate to the cities, increasing the manpower pool for Schnee defense and industry. Economic manipulation on such a grand scale was hard work, but with the unified will of the Schnee dynasty it could be done, possibly within his lifetime. Hopefully Weiss was ready for all this, she excelled even his own scores in business classes and tests when he was her age. She had so much potential. Augustus couldn't stop the swell of pride he felt inflate in his chest. She was training to be a huntress at the most prestigious school in Vale and was still top of the class, yet at the same time was acing all the online business courses and tests he sent her to do. Weiss was a living example of Schnee exceptionalism.

Speaking of Weiss, his daughter had apparently started to…mingle with her team leader, Ruby, in a more than friendly manner. That snippet of information had stumbled upon him when he went through Weiss's scroll. It was routine maintenance and checking through code to ensure no virus had been planted and in an effort to protect his daughter's privacy had decided to do it himself. Apparently her physical diary had been compromised far too many times for comfort and now she did it all electronically.

Why she even had a diary Augustus could only wonder, but the words he read could not be unread. This was actually a problem, a very big problem. Schnee dating and courtship were very strict, he had never taught his daughter these things due to a lack of time and real want to do so, but one dated based on power and wealth. Ruby had neither, at least not the kind of power Schnee's were interested in, and by looking up her background the Rose family was all but extinct and had no resources to speak of. They had just started dating, two weeks ago, but already feelings seemed to run deep.

Skimming a new regulation law put in place, Augustus paused in his thoughts about his daughter as he reread the letters on his screen. The King was raising the amount of equipment and men private business could have within the country and was even giving Schnee Dust ten-thousand men as a gift of good will. This was obviously a way to mitigate army upkeep cost, the details of transferring ownership in healthcare, benefits and salary would have to be ironed out, but this was a relatively cheap way of increasing his manpower and influence.

Signing the agreement, he sent it down to Human Resources so they could deal with all the transfers, and then sent the same thing to his internal defense office so they could order the needed weaponry and armor from Schnee owned factories. Their tech was far beyond that of the monarch's due to their worldwide connections. Any tech they didn't develop themselves was quickly bought before anyone else could take it and use it against them.

Thoughts drifting back to Weiss and her girlfriend and Augustus was at a crossroads. Simply taking her out of the school was not an option. It would only cause resentment to fester and grow more than it already had, so ordering Weiss to stop seeing this Ruby would only have the same affect. Having the heir hate the family she was working to better was not a very good way to go about things.

It seemed like he was going to have to talk to the two and see just how serious this was before acting. It was a good thing he had some unfilled 'missions' that could need some more force than usual that team RWBY could fill. Though Weiss would undoubtingly know something was up the moment she realized they were to meet him in his office. No matter, Beacon needed a call it seemed, a few White Fang hideouts needed some cleaning out.

**AN: Now we are upon the Weiss & Ruby vs Augustus confrontation. That will indeed be done next chapter and don't worry, he still doesn't trust Blake at all, so she may or may not be going anywhere. Edited as of May 5th 2014**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So we begin! Hope you guys enjoy. Edited as of May 5th 2014**

A Different Perspective

The wait for team RWBY to arrive was probably going to be the worst part of this whole appointment. He was going to have to do something about Weiss's faunus friend Blake, his daughter may have learned to trust that species, but he sure as hell hadn't. He would have denied her the ability to use the elevator if it wasn't for Ozpin holding him accountable for his actions. Any transgression would mean the deal was off, the worst part was that Ruby was the only one able to make the call to leave, so he was going to have to be subtle.

Really he had already arranged for a team to take away the faunus and her teammate to their own mission as soon as they arrived. It made sense to do so, their objective was a solid hour away while Weiss's and Ruby's was right here in the capital city. The missions may be a sham for something else, but they were still doing legitimate work and saving him some losses.

Hearing a subtle beep in his earpiece, Augustus allowing himself to smile a bit. Getting the faunus and blonde away from his daughter and Ruby was easier than expected. He honestly had no idea just what he was going to do if the two stuck by each other after he explained just why this relationship wasn't a good idea. For one Weiss was a Schnee and Ruby was not anyone of power or prestige. For a family so focused on attaining power and wealth interfamily disputes were rare and violent ones were not tolerated. At the end of the day a Schnee could only trust another Schnee, so assassination attempts or undermining another family members ambitions were rare and if discovered the offending party was punished severely.

An attack on one Schnee was an attack on all, even if the attacker was another Schnee. The offender would be thrown out of the family, their wealth confiscated and stripped of all inheritance and status. If Ruby were to officially try to court Weiss...she would not be under said protection unless they married. The marriage needed to be approved by him due to Weiss's heir status, so that was off the table unless they lasted a few years.

That wasn't to say he would try and dispose of the red caped huntress, no, that was far to uncivilized and barbaric for him. It also wasn't his choice on just who Weiss fell for, while he had to approve he had already resigned himself to allowing any marriage as long as she didn't marry some criminal or someone with a questionable background (faunus). Being gay in society was widely accepted, little time was spent worrying over who had sex with who or married who when Grimm were trying to kill your friends and family. It was quite legal to marry whomever you wished, there was actually little to no established religion in current society. The relatively short time humanity has spent alive likely had something to do with that.

He had ordered the newly named Miss. Scarlatina to let them in as soon as they arrived. Her ex-husband had apparently taken on her family name, it was a shame really, for a fuanus she was rather adorable. Though where she got that accent from still baffled him, but seeing the door slowly open as the sounds of conversation hit him it was obvious the time for idle thought was done.

Walking through the door first was the rather small team leader Ruby Rose, with her weapon absent she actually looked like an innocent child, but Augustus knew better. Anyone who wanted to be a hunter or huntress could not possibly be completely innocent at heart, that job required you to kill creatures you knew nothing about en-mass. The amount of blood one saw in that line of duty was unfathomable, and he preferred not to think about it.

In next was the entire reason they were here today, his daughter held her chin high and back straight but her eyes held a fear in them that gave her away. He was rather proud that she could put up such a facade, yet at the same time ashamed that she regarded him with fear. Though it was understandable, they had never had a very close relationship even when Penelope was alive and well. The normally hyper Ruby was subdued, so it seemed like Weiss knew exactly why they were here. Good. That would make things much easier.

"I'm assuming you both know why you are here?" Ice blue met unrelenting silver as Augustus looked for any sign of weakness he may exploit in the young leader.

"Yes, Father. You will be briefing us on our mission correct?"

"I wasn't asking you Weiss, know your place before you speak. Ruby Rose, do you know why you are here?" Still, those damnable silver orbs did not waver. If anything they hardened.

"You're here to verbally abuse Weiss and scare me off, right?"

Weiss looked about ready to kill Ruby, but still stayed silent. Augustus was far from calm, even if his mask of apathy stood strong. Did she value her life at all?

"No, you ignorant wench." Deep breaths "However we do need to discuss the relationship you two have formed recently. Weiss, you realize this is a problem, correct?"

"I thought you weren't talking to her? Shouldn't she 'know her place'?"

"Weiss, you have five seconds to control that disrespectful child before she is restrained with _extreme _prejudice." Angry silver met equally enraged blue before a swat to the head from Weiss broke their battle. Ruby looked down in some shame before falling completely silent.

"Yes, father, I do. However I had hoped that you would allow us to date. What exactly is the problem?"

"You are the heir to the biggest, most influential company this world has ever seen. You are a Schnee, meaning it is your duty to be as noble as can be. I never told you this, but Schnees have a traditional way of courting outside of casual relationships. Don't mistake me, the two of you being female has nothing to do with this. Tradition does not mean intolerance. Would you two just consider rethinking your intimate relationship? Surely you two aren't that close."

"I'm closer to her than you ever have been! I actually treat her like a human being rather than some investment!"

That hurt a little bit, the problem being it was true. He was never close with Weiss, and this little girl likely knew more about her than he ever would. He hadn't meant to be so harsh, or treat her so badly. Had he treated her so poorly that even now Weiss just stood there with an impassive look on her face and refused to defend him? Was he that big of a failure as a father?

"I'm not trying to break you two up Ruby. Sit down, shut up and let the grown-ups talk before I have you removed from my office and Weiss removed from Beacon." It was a hollow threat, he could never do something so cruel, but they believed him capable of it, so Ruby sat down without another word. It just drove the dagger she stuck in his heart all the deeper.

"I'm sorry, but I can't just rethink my relationship with Ruby. She makes me happy. Can't that be enough for you for once?"

She really did not understand, did she? The world did not run on love and forgiveness. It ran on money, greed, manipulation, betrayal, heartbreak and tragedy. When someone gained another lost. That was the reality they lived in, how he grew up, how he was taught and how he operated.

"You really don't get it, do you? I'm not trying to take away your happiness, I never have Weiss. All I ever tried to do was help you, but I can see that I only hurt you now. Weiss, this world we call home does not care about you, it does not care about Ruby nor does it care for me. People are eager to be friends but then abandon you the moment things get hard. You will be betrayed, manipulated and have your heart broken many, many times. People are shallow, petty, greedy, manipulative. This relationship you have with Ruby could end very badly. It will be hard and full of roadblocks, it will test your will and break your heart."

What if Ruby died on a mission one day? What if she was assassinated? The fool who said "Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all" had obviously never loved anyone.

"How can something so small be so large? You're blowing this out of proportion."

"I am doing no such thing. If word gets out that you two are dating then the entire Schnee dynasty will come crashing down on you. You are next in line to run this empire, and they will not hesitate to eliminate possible threats to that end. Could you go on if Ruby died one day, alone in a cold forest or deserted mountain? What if she is kill just like your mother was? Don't be so selfish Weiss, your actions have consequences to those around you."

"We already talked about this father. She is perfectly fine having a target on her back and I am content to trust her to not get killed. Don't you dare to lecture me on selfishness, that's all you've ever been."

He had nothing to say to that. If they thought themselves ready to face the world...who was he to stop them?

"Very well. If you believe yourself prepared to face the world, then I will not stop you." Why was she so surprised by that? "I am not here to control your life Weiss. I never tried to, I hope you can one day understand that everything I did and continue to do is because I think it's right. I'm only as human as the rest of you. I don't wake up every morning wondering how to make your life miserable, or rubbing my hands in glee as I do evil deeds. The day you take over this company is the day you will finally understand. Now get out of my office, I have work to do. A team is waiting for you in the lobby."

With that he simply watched a shocked looking Weiss and still miffed Ruby make their way out of his office, with only Weiss looking back for a few awkward seconds before moving on. The second the door closed was the second his posture crumbled and his chest began to hurt. Weiss really did think he had tried to control her life, tried to make her miserable and steal away anything that made her happy. He had failed his wife, failed his daughter, failed himself. All the money in the world would never fill the hole left in his heart. For all the praise he got, all the power he wielded and respect he earned Augustus was still as far from happiness as he had been the day Penelope died.

A fire burning in his belly, Augustus swore to himself that he would not allow this to happen ever again. He would defend Weiss when she could not in the meetings that were sure to come, protect what she held dear even if she did not know he did it. Even if he was at his death bed and Weiss despised him for all he was, he would be content with the knowledge that he had protected her, helped her, made her stronger. Augustus Schnee was the most powerful man in the world, it was time he act like it.

**AN: This chapter is full of implied information I get giddy just rereading it. Huge amounts of character development on Augustus's end and we learn just what Weiss truly thought of her father. Before anyone objects to my portrayal of Ruby as confrontational and the real instigator let me explain a bit. We don't know what Weiss told Ruby about Augustus and Ruby knows about the mistreatment of faunus at the hands of his company. Those two many never see eye to eye, or even like each other, but both of them would do anything for Weiss. If I'm going to be honest I think Ruby can hold a grudge like nobody's business, and that behind those adorable silver eyes is the mind of a calculating, if unfocused, mind. She would not have been allowed to move up two years if she was as dumb as the show makes her out to be. Combat prowess alone is nothing without a sound mind, and if anyone knows this it would be hunters and huntresses. That being said Ruby is easily controlled through impulse and emotion, and I'm going to cover the 'future' of his genetic line next chapter. **

**I'm gearing up for the chapter that will change this T rated fic to an M rated one. If you think the world is realistic now just wait for combat. There will be blood, a lot of blood. Anyway, I know dialogue is my weakest writing point, so any reviews on getting a better grasp on how to write that stuff would be appreciated. By the way, I completely believe that line about those wanting to be hunters/huntresses. No truly innocent heart wants to be a hunter, no matter how idealized they are by fairy tales. **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Before I continue I'd like to clarify something. Not everything told from Augustus's POV is 100% fact, I know this is kind of a 'no shit' thing, but give me a sec to elaborate. I'm not going to spoils anything, but not everything about the Schnee family is concrete fact. There is also a very crucial piece of info way back that will come into play later in the story and it involves Roman. Back on topic, take what is stated at face value from Augustus. He has a very jaded view of the world if you couldn't tell, so how he sees things may not be exactly how they are. Just keep that in mind. **

A Different Perspective

Not long after Ruby and Weiss left did Augustus pull himself back together, he still had many things to go over, he could pity himself later. The first order of business would be contacting Ozpin to let him know he had his full support; already he had given the order to recall the bulk of his mercenaries back to HQ. It wouldn't take long for them to get back, two weeks at the most, but recalling now would allow for greater organization. If Ozpin's prediction of still stood he still had two months, that was more than enough to rearm and retrain those ten-thousand he received from the king. In total he was going to have just over fifty-thousand men ready to defend Vale City.

Estimates put Grimm numbers in the seventy to eighty thousand range, but unlike Hunters regular infantry could not take down multiple Grimm by themselves at one time. Being outnumbered by Grimm in a city battle did not fare well for the defender usually due to the more deadly Grimm, such as Death stalkers or Nevermore. Beacon had a measly two thousand 'battle ready' hunters ready for battle, though hunters were extremely skilled.

He was going to have to have a meeting with Ozpin and get his plans for fending off this horde of ravenous beasts. Looking down at his scroll Augustus had to smile at the amount of damage Ruby had done to the White Fang, perhaps they could get along. It was actually rather sad as to why he really wasn't resisting much with this relationship the two shared; they could still have children. Recent research into fertility had proven that two women could conceive a natural child from their own DNA, with a little lab help of course, and genetic traits could be chosen. While that last part was years down the road, testing was already being successfully conducted on the first.

Gay women could now have children together; this was going to make him so much money when it hit the market. As much as he really wanted it to be a lie, Weiss still fell just short of the company. He would risk resources, send men to their deaths, protect her and her...girlfriend from the family, but the one thing he would not do was jeopardize the future of his company, his empire. Weiss was the only one capable of running this monstrosity once he was dead, no other person had the training, intelligence or attitude needed to run the Schnee empire. He would not allow his line to die with his daughter due to personal preference. He had sacrificed too much for this, not even his own daughter could come before that.

It was hard, so very hard to keep sane while doing this damn job. There was always a problem, always a deal, the sun never set on the Schnee Empire so his work day never truly ended. It was only going to get harder as the company expanded, more deals and more controversy. That was when his tablet exploded with images of Ruby Rose kissing the one and only Weiss Schnee on camera...what had that girl been thinking?!

Did she not have a brain?! No, they would never get along after this. She had just made the biggest mistake of her life and she probably didn't even know it. There was a difference between defending people in a covert relationship, another when it was all out in the open.

Already calls for an emergency meeting were being seconded. While he did have absolute power, he did still have to obey his own rules, once the majority of sector managers wanted a meeting it was going to happen. Hologram technology had come a long way since its invention, now it seemed he was going to be meeting with the internal affairs council.

The internal affairs council was a panel made up of eight people who managed most internal conflicts between employees, Sector heads, family members, and could change internal company policy should he be incapacitated. Already he heard the sounds of a roofing tile shifting to allow the hologram projector and camera out. With a very dejected sigh, Augustus really hoped Weiss was at least hitting that insufferable runt with her fists, though her weapon would be preferred.

"Good evening my friends. To what do I owe the sudden visit to?"

"How long did you know?" That would be Sir Gabriel, he was always so serious.

"That is irrelevant. As head of this company you all know that this decision rests well within my authority. Weiss Schnee can be acquainted with whoever she wishes."

"Are you mad?! This breaks every rule we have! Miss. Rose has no wealth to speak of, let alone political power. Why is it our children must marry those they do not love but your child can date any gutter wench she pleases?!"

"Augustus, you cannot let this stand. This is a challenge to your authority as both Weiss's father and head of Schnee Dust. Surely you underst-"

"This cannot stand! We will not allo-"

"Why don't we just let this play out? Augustus has yet to disap-"

"You are discarding decades of tradition all for petty favoritism! Where is you integri-"

The room was soon dominated by the shouts of angry business men and women as the council debated among themselves on just what the hell they were going to do. The media were going to eat this up like no tomorrow, highlighting Schnee tradition as some kind of sick twisted forced marriage game. Then all of Vale would be gossiping on how he played favorites, or about how romantic it was that young forbidden love was still around, or how this was the needle that would break the camel's back and he would be forced to resign...the headlines were going to be painful. All this yelling wasn't helping at all, but it would be rude to interrupt them.

The problem was that they were right for the most part, he was plating favorites. He was discarding tradition, he was forcing others to marry for business and not love while his daughter dated whom she pleased, he was compromising his fabled integrity...worst of all they were right with how Ruby had basically just said 'fuck you' without really saying it.

He was going to be forced to change policy. Augustus Schnee was being forced to change decades of Schnee tradition all because a teenager couldn't, or more likely wouldn't, control herself and just fucking think. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, Ruby Rose was never, for as long as he lived, ever getting his approval to do anything with his daughter. The only reason he had ordered his personal guard to escort Weiss and Ruby back to Beacon was because Ruby's death would break Weiss. He may or may not have been reading diary entries.

Discreetly rewriting family policy, he soon noticed the entire room had grown quiet as he continued to type. The silent question of 'is he really doing that?' stretched across the silence...yes. He was actually doing this. Augustus Schnee was putting his daughter first and he felt really shitty for doing so, he was betraying the trust, the loyalty of so many people by doing this. Why couldn't things just be easy? He just wanted to sign some trade deals and wallow in his misery in peace, but no, Ruby Rose went and ruined his day for the second time in the span of two hours.

"This meeting is adjourned. No more meetings will be held on this matter, and no more discussion of this is allowed. Send out the PR agents to do damage control. Good night." Even to his own ears that sounded really resigned. With a flick of his wrist the shocked faces he now loathed a little bit more disappeared and he was left to hit the dreaded send button.

Hitting it was harder than he thought it ever would be, but he did. Dismissing his assistant, Augustus sent a message to Ozpin demanding an immediate meeting to discuss the Vale City problem. He didn't even have to wait five minutes before getting an affirmative response and the time of 8 AM, though he was to be escorted by a team to where Ozpin wanted him to be. Apparently they would have to meet in a more secure room and teams crucial to the plans were going to be there. How exactly a few people were so crucial to the defense of an entire city where over fifty-thousand people were to be stationed he'd never know.

Other than that Ozpin was keeping everything else he knew to himself and Augustus couldn't fault him for that, there were spies everywhere. Hopefully Beacon was half as secure as his company was. Getting up from his seat Augustus once more made his way to his bedroom that was no more than five feet away. Laying down with a sigh, Augustus thought on just how he was going to do damage control once the meeting he had tomorrow morning was over.

He was going to have to meet with many family members, soothe their worries and doubt with hollow words and empty promises. Then he would have to increase the cut they got to keep the more intelligent of the family from causing a ruckus, they could always tell when he bullshited them. Then he was going to have to make sure all PR agents and agencies were on the same page, he was simply getting his family with the times. Nothing more nothing less, though he didn't even buy that one.

A Schnee never bowed down to pressure when it came to tradition, yet he had, just to protect the person his daughter cared about most. He had no delusions now on just what she thought of him, she likely resented and hated him. He deserved it though, he supposed, always putting his own heartbreak and company first would cause most people to become bitter. Heart heavy with anxiety and sadness, Augustus closed his eyes and fell into another dreamless sleep, dreams were for the weak.

* * *

Dressing himself in his usual suit getup, Augustus shoved down another wave of anxiety that threatened to bubble to the surface. As soon as he had turned the television on his ears were flooded with shameless speculation on just what had 'gone wrong' and why all of a sudden he decided to grow a heart. Vultures, the lot of them. Perhaps he should 'invest' a bit into the media and stop this garbage from airing? Tying his light blue tie around his neck, Augustus was ready to do what he must to protect what he held dear. Out of all the people in his company the defense contractors and department were the most loyal to him, mainly because he used them well and actually listened to their advice. He was going to have to bring back a copy of this battle plan so they could tweak it as needed and make contingency plans. Ozpin had requested he come alone and Augustus was going to honor that request, it would have been terribly rude to ignore it. Walking out of his white wooden doors and waving off his faunus assistant Augustus made his way to the roof and climbed into the waiting harrier. He seemed to be leaving his office a lot more than he used to.

* * *

The arrival was similar to previous ones, though the campus grounds were much busier than last time. All over different teams of hunters and huntresses were training for the battle that was to come, he even saw Miss. Scarlatina's daughter fighting with some other faunus. Those two were almost clones, it was mildly off-putting. His airship rising and landing on a nearby pad, it would remain there until he was ready to leave. No point in sending him off when this wasn't supposed to last that long. Hands clasped behind his back and back straight Augustus looked like the poster child for wealth and nobility, though he was thinking less than noble thoughts right about now.

Someone was supposed to show him the way to this supposedly 'secret' meeting room. His head on a swivel, Augustus had to suppress a groan and a face palm when he saw Weiss dragging a figure by a red hood and walking right towards him. The last thing he needed was to see that silver-eyed brat and putting up with her lack of maturity. Even as the two girls stopped right in-front of him Augustus couldn't restrain the condescending gaze he sent Ruby's way.

"We are here to show you the way father. Right, Ruby?" She seemed happier than usual, though annoyance seeped into the otherwise happy tone towards the end.

He couldn't resist taking a small jab at Ruby. "You're becoming more trouble than you are worth Miss. Rose. Do you have any idea what you've done? Perhaps I overestimated you intelligence."

"Other than making you work for once in your life? Not in the slightest." She replied coolly, smug smile forming as she crossed her arms.

Fists clenching, Augustus's reply was lost when Weiss hit Ruby in the back of the head rather viciously.

"Please ignore her father, she doesn't think before speaking. I already…talked to her about what happened yesterday, I can assure you that won't be happening again anytime soon."

Heaving a sigh Augustus calmed himself. "The damage is already done Weiss. I'm sure you know what I've been forced to do to protect that impudent girlfriend of yours?" He was fine with Weiss having a girlfriend; it was the person she was dating who he did not approve of.

"Yes, I do and…thank you." Clearing her throat Weiss turned and starting yanking Ruby off with her "If you would follow me I'll show you the way."

The genuine way Weiss thanked him was almost enough to break his cold facade, but old habits die hard. Still, his heart swelled at the thought that he may still have a chance to salvage his relationship with Weiss. With a shake of his head and a grumble Augustus followed the two huntresses in training to the 'secret' meeting room…which was right beside Ozpin's office. Ozpin had quite the sense of humor it seemed, though Augustus was surprised when Ruby sobered the moment Weiss opened the door and allowed him in. The two followed him in and shut the door, hearing the tell-tale click of a lock Augustus looked around the room to evaluate the situation.

The room was huge, with tiled grey-metal walls it gave off a depressing yet serious vibe, in the middle was a large wooden table that had a group of fifteen people sitting around it with three empty seats. He only recognized Ozpin and his second in command Miss. Goodwitch, the rest were either children he had never seen or adults who looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. Still walking he pulled out chair between the two other empty seats, allowing himself some satisfaction at the groan Ruby let out, and seated himself in the oddly comfortable wooden chair. How could something so hard be so soft? He was going to have to get a white one after he asked Ozpin where he got this thing at.

"I'm sure you all know why we are here." The lights dimmed and above them blue lights began to glow. "A medium sized Grimm force is moving rapidly towards Vale City." The room erupted into blue as a massive hologram hovered above them and gave an aerial view of reported Grimm sightings and numbers. "An estimated eighty-thousand Grimm of multiple types are rapidly approaching Vale City, scouting reports suggest that a vast majority of this force are Beowolves, Ursa, and Boarbatusk."

A mass of red appeared and was slowly making its way towards the large blue dot that was the city. The teenagers that were in the room looked like they were ready to puke, but this demonstration was for them. He and the adults here already knew exactly what was going on, long before the kids were even told to be here. It was a real shame that this would be what they would do the rest of their lives, Weiss had a way out she was destined to take, but the rest would forever be at war with these beasts of darkness.

Ozpin's normally smooth voice was devoid of its usual charm and smug undertone, he knew exactly how these kids felt, he just hid it well. "This is why you team leaders have been summoned here. The second, third, and fourth year leaders have already been informed. However, the plans have changed due to some rather...unexpected help. We will be defending Vale City and Beacon from this Grimm incursion, anyone who wishes to not do so may leave now. Nobody will blame you if you do." Not a single person moved from their seats. "You are all very brave, all of you will be fine hunters and huntresses some day." That was rather sickening, most of these poor kids wouldn't be alive soon enough.

That was enough fanfare for one day, his own voice cutting through the silence, Augustus cut off whatever twist of the truth was about to come fourth next. "Why haven't you contacted the King? This is why we have a military, to clean up messes like this." Even to his own ears his voice was rather cold, but it had to be said. This was not the time to prove the skill or necessity of hunters; pride was a man's greatest enemy, he of all people should know.

An aging man rose to his challenge "The King and his military are ill-equipped to deal with this crisis. They would rather gaze lustrously at the lands of fellow men while we struggle to protect their lands from Grimm!" The utter disdain this hunter had for the monarch and his forces was clear, but that did not answer his question.

"How exactly did you plan on defending an entire city from eighty-thousand Grimm without the help of a modern military force? Are you truly that blinded by your pride?" His anger was growing and it showed in his voice.

"Of course not! I'm sure we woul-"

"Calm down professor Port. Augustus is right, all we were going to do was force the population of the city to move right before the attack. We had no defense plan. Making one would have been suicidal." The once more smooth voice of Ozpin broke the mounting tension. "Mr. Schnee, your concerns are valid but had we informed the king he would have tried to defend this city. That would have caused civilians to stay, those who stayed would be devoured due to bureaucratic incompetence. You've seen their files on Grimm, they are non-existent, they wouldn't know what to do should any Grimm incursion, such as this, actually happen."

The truth of that statement was disturbing, but his knowledge of internal workings even more so. How did he know that they had access into all government files? Whatever plans they had now were obsolete anyway, he was going to have to tell them eventually. "If we are really going to defend this city without government support then the King can no longer own this land." He did not stutter, yet everyone looked at him like he was a fool. Did they not know anything about law?

Goodwitch seemed to get was he was saying though. "Are you seriously going to buy Vale City? This is not the time for petty corporate money grabs. People's lives are at stake!" Why was she so angry?

"If I don't buy the city then responsibility for rebuilding will go to you due to your refusal to inform the monarch of the impending Grimm threat. Have you no knowledge of property law in Vale? For a people so proud of their knowledge you all act quite ignorantly." It was just a casual observation. They were ignorant of property law, but already shouts of protest were being raised. Ungrateful imbeciles.

"Do you want my help or not?!" His own yelling chilled the flames of argument "I don't have to help you people. If you want me to help you keep your precious school then be quiet and let me explain." Hearing no other protests Augustus continued, but this time much calmer. "If I buy Vale City then the King cannot interfere with whatever happens here. He won't be able to hold your schools responsible and he won't be able to make a case against me. Should I not buy this city then Schnee Dust will be declaring war on all of Vale, militarily occupying a city will do that. Any objections? None? Good. Now go ahead and share what role you want my men to play in the upcoming battle."

Ozpin did not seem thrilled with his little tirade, but it had to of been said. "We want your forces to be a shield while our hunters are the sword. If your troops can cover us from Nevermore and assist in taking down Death Stalkers our hunters will be able to shred through the rest in close combat. Is that satisfactory?" His tone clipped towards the end, Ozpin was obviously unhappy that he no longer controlled where this conversation was heading. Did he not realize just how much resources he could call upon?

"Maybe if we were going against peasant rabble. In one week you will have a list of assets that can be acquired in the following months. Formulate your battle plans and then call me back in so I may share them with my own men. You underestimate the power my company wields headmaster, we can do much more than assist." Standing from his chair, Augustus left without another word or even glancing back, sometime during his stroll up to the locked doors they had unlocked, so getting out and back to his harrier was no problem. These people had wasted his time with such nonsense, he had a damn empire to run.

**Edited as of May 5th 2014**

**AN: The build-up continues! Anywho, Augustus is particularly annoyed right now, so he is less polite than usual. To any who object to the large numbers of mercs and Grimm...this is the realistic verse guys. The US population alone is over 300 MILLION, and I've established world pop is in the billions. If you want I can make an entire chapter dedicated to military size, population, known Grimm population, and other such details outside of Augustus's perspective. Also, to those who thought 'Ozpin is not that stupid', I know he isn't, however Augustus did not let him explain just HOW his students and professors would kill that many Grimm. No worries, my boy Ozpin got his own secrets too. **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Bigger chapters it is then. Read the AN at the bottom, I need you guys to chose something else because I'm too torn. Hope you enjoy!**

A Different Perspective

It had been a brutal week for Augustus. Between the small civil war in the Schnee family and trying to organize the defense of Vale City with increasingly bleak reports he was not enjoying himself. Convincing his fellow Schnees that buying the city was a sound move was much easier than expected, they would now be able to directly expand and colonize into the uncharted territories and have an untaxed monopoly on all resources they found. The actual cost of buying the relatively small city wasn't that expensive, the monarch wasn't making any revenue and was happy to be rid of the city, as long as Beacon and Signal still defended the realm and remained private entities.

Having a dust company have its own small military was enough, he didn't need to be worried about Schnee sponsored hunters. That was actually why Schnee funded combat schools would not get approval, the king was smart enough to have a blanket ban on any new combat schools being funded solely by private entities. When it came to other education though Schnee Dust was grooming the next generation to be the new employees they wanted them to be. Ethical? Debatable. Profitable? Most certainly.

Lines had been drawn in the sand between old and young Schnee families. Nobody was going to try and oust him from his post, that was foolish, rather opposing family members were trying to strip his house of the 'Dynasty Head' title. That basically meant he, or the elder of his house, could change any and all family policy with a simple signature. Until now the head of the company was the elder of the family with the Dynasty Head title, now many of the older families were moving to strip him and Weiss of that right. Augustus would die before he allowed some pompous old men to take away what Weiss had the right to inherit.

The younger generations resented the marriage policy due to a rapidly changing western culture, even the nobility of the realm were marrying who they wished to. The Schnee Dynasty was the last remaining large family to have that tradition; it only disconnected them further from the population of Vale. However the younger generations were more connected due to online culture, they saw people from different classes marry for love, and so when they could not marry the ones they held dear resented the tradition with a passion.

On the other side were the old and greedy, this marriage policy was one of the main reasons Schnee's could grow business so fast. Being married to the daughter or son of the president of a major consumer of dust helped in negotiation. The older generations, more so generation, still saw people of different classes as people one should not get familiarized with. Having them as a friend was one thing, some of their best partners and friends came from lower classes, but marrying one of lower level? That idea was foreign to them at best, traitorous at worst.

While the younger were more numerous, for very obvious reasons, the older were more powerful, experienced, and established. Most of his best advisers and sector managers were less than happy with him now, some were even refusing to work. He wouldn't be able to just fire and banish them, not if he wanted to expand the company anytime soon or have people he could trust.

His solution was a vote, both sides agreed. If the policy change was approved by the majority then his family would keep the title, if not then the title would be stripped from him and held until a new family came into power. Weiss was perfectly safe, surely nobody would go so far as to try and have her assassinated, but her possible marriage partners would likely disappear. This would cause her to hate her family heir designation, meaning she would disinherit herself...the rest was self explanatory. The vote was to be held in two weeks time and would be free of any influence from both sides. If anyone was caught trying to manipulate the vote, they would be expelled from the family and never allowed to associate with a Schnee again. The family took its tradition seriously.

Since this was nothing but numbers, Augustus was not too stressed about his daughter losing anything. However the major decline in profit after the change was unsustainable, unacceptable! Augustus was helpless to stop it though, the coffers of Schnee Dust were going to have to take a few hits for the next two weeks. Contrary to popular belief Schnee Dust did not have many monetary assists, about 65.8 billion, most of their assets were in capital and consumer goods.

Augustus had taken on a policy of mass reinvestment, keeping only 55% of profits made, and reinvesting the rest into other things. The only reason this was working was because the company was expanding at a massive rate and needed the money to keep doing so. The massive rise in demand for dust helped too, with more inventions and availability of dust powered machinery the world relied on dust more and more everyday; it was almost like a drug really.

Even with the his current family and company problems, the defense of Vale City was by far the most stressful thing to have ever come into his life. The city had a population of 1.5 million, a relatively small population for a city, but moving all those civilians to a safe place was going to be impossible. Despite unanimous protest from those at Beacon and Signal, Augustus chose to allow the city population to remain unaware of the impending threat and remain in their homes. He was having shelters built for them, but they remained a low priority building project.

The decision weighed heavily on his conscious, but it had to be done. If they were to keep this city out of grimm hands then everything was going to have to go into military fortification, not a single day could be spared to move well over a million people by force or voluntarily. The company simply did not have enough resources in the area to deal with such a massive amount of people. The look Weiss gave him was something he wished to not ponder on.

The problem lied not with the assets they could provide, they were coming along greatly. Augustus had finally gotten those stubborn hunters to use the aura amplification and strengthening technology that had been recently developed; counter-grimm training of the garrison forces was ahead of schedule. The heavy machinery, such as AA guns, tanks, artillery, gun emplacements, defensive equipment, was all arriving on schedule. The problem was that the estimates Ozpin had given him were wrong. Rather than eighty-thousand grimm consisting of mainly of Beowolves and Ursa, more accurate reports indicated a force of over one-hundred thousand grimm with more Nevermore and Death Stalkers than he wished to think about.

They were outnumbered 2-1 and defending an unwalled city. Just how in the hell did Ozpin and his own military strategists plan on holding this disaster of an investment? He had wanted to watch the encounter from afar but...he wasn't quite sure it was safe to do that now. Due to the rapid advancement of aircraft AA tech had yet to really catch up, their own was more advanced than your usual AA gun though. It used state of the art tracking systems and 60mm rounds to tear any target to pieces, even the thick hide of a Nevermore, but with only a limited number of AA platforms and that many Nevermore...he wasn't about to risk death just to watch a light show.

He had sent that list not long ago actually; it was pretty extensive, though he doubted how well this whole thing was going to go. He had already made sure his commanders knew damn well that if it all went to hell Weiss was going to be their only priority. The rest could fend for themselves, he cared little for their well-being after-all, only enough to be a bit saddened by their sacrifice. They had thousands of land-mines to work with, the heavy weaponry previously mentioned, some automated turret emplacements, portable bunkers, as well as very limited naval support. The 'navy' Schnee Dust owned was made up mainly of fast moving lightly armored ships used to combat piracy, they were not armed with guns able to fire miles inland, but they would be able to provide a station for the air force to land and refuel/refit.

Augustus was no tactician, but even he knew how important it would be to maintain air supremacy in the upcoming battle. Harriers were armed with two twin mininguns on the nose and had rocket pods throughout the wings, they would play a key role in eliminating large groups of grimm before they could overwhelm defensive positions.

Looking down at his scroll Augustus was pleasantly surprised to see that Ozpin already wanted to meet. They worked fast. This time though he was allowed to bring in any commanders who would play a major role in this foolish defense of Vale City. With a quick response Augustus informed Ozpin that he had four commanders that would need to be present, and that they would be in standard Schnee battle armor. Nobody was supposed to know their identities, this way their families would remain safe from any who sought to seek vengeance for their actions.

Mercenary work was often brutal if not outright barbaric, they were hired to do the dirty work state military's would not or could not do. This meant that many civilian deaths had been attributed to merc organizations and operations; whenever the media talked about their 'questionable business partners' it was always code for defense contractors. That wasn't to say they weren't right in their assumptions, most of these people committed unthinkable acts, but that was not his concern, he broke no law in hiring them.

The meeting was once more to be held in that hologram room but this time all parties were going to be allowed access to the controls, allowing for more dynamic interaction. The four people he needed to bring were not all that special, the head of the air-force in the region, the armor commander, and two infantry generals. Most of the force was made up of infantry, hence why two people would be needed to coordinate and monitor their movements; they only had six thousand tanks to work with, meaning that they would need to be preserved for as long as possible. With only a two-thousand aircraft, one-thousand artillery pieces and another two-thousand AA guns of his fifty-thousand man force thirty-nine thousand of them were infantrymen. With a sigh and heart heavy with stress Augustus went to bed, tomorrow was going to be just as long a day as this one.

* * *

Just like last time he was here Augustus was left waiting by his Harrier with his four compatriots shifting and refusing to break the awkward silence. He could go to the room without any guidance, but not escorting a guest was just plain rude and disrespectful. He was not about to reduce himself to some commoner who found his own way around a place he was invited to, the etiquette of these people required work. His brooding was interrupted when Weiss, finally absent of the red eye-sore, came into his vision and waved him over.

Finally, some civility! The walk was tense though, with his daughter still mad about his choice to leave the civilians to their fate and his commanders content to simply talk exclusively to themselves through radio Augustus was left to admire the architecture of Beacon. While not something Augustus himself would use, it had a kind of imposing or awe inspiring aura to it. It was meant to show off wealth and power, something a combat school wasn't exactly supposed to be about; he was going to have to look into the background of Ozpin sometime. With all that had been happening recently he had little time to look into the personal lives of current allies, he had enough enemies to last a few life-times he had to monitor.

Just like last time the door automatically opened, allowing them to enter, and automatically locked once they were all seated. With all team leaders being present only those who needed to contribute were allowed to sit, meaning Weiss had to go join her team leader Ruby who was standing with a few other leaders on the far side of the room. The only reason she was allowed in here was due to her heiress status with the Schnee Dust Company, it helped that he had forced Ozpin to allow her in here so she could observe how to conduct business like this. The professors were all allowed seats, but apparently Professor Port was not allowed access to the hologram controls, a curious choice, but he wasn't about to object. That man was far too prideful in his hunter heritage.

"Now that we are all here" The smooth voice of the headmaster silenced all talk "We can get down to business." Taking a sip from his signature mug Ozpin waved his other hand and the roomed dimmed as an aerial view of Vale City appeared. "We here at Beacon have a rough idea as to how we are going to defend this city, however, we are not the most qualified in the field of mass warfare. What you are about to see if a rough draft of who should be where, any and all criticism is welcome."

Before his eyes the city became alight in icons, reds, greens, oranges, and multitudes of images that ranged from man to machine. Hunters were green, grimm red, and Schnee forces orange with different icons signifying different things. Around the city was a massive minefield, followed by thinly spread bunkers doting the perimeter and armor supporting large infantry contingents. Harriers remained inside the city and provided support as needed, the simulation was rather advanced, showing friendly numbers and enemy numbers both diminish as the colors and icons battled. The huge problem in this plan was that AA coverage was too thin, meaning Nevermore were swooping in and causing massive amounts of damage, sometimes just outright flying through a tower, causing it to collapse. The simulation ended in defeat, but the grimm had a measly ten-thousand left, which was better than the estimated five-thousand people that would escape on their side.

Right away his four people went to work, typing and swiping away at the small screen that was at each seat, the first thing that disappeared was the forest that surrounded the city in all directions. Next the mines were set to optimal spread and then the fortifications were put well inside of the city. This limited the amount of area that they would need to cover and maximized AA coverage, meaning Nevermore would have a much harder time breaking through the wall of metal that the guns would put up. Artillery was consolidated and all put on the docks, sentry guns were placed at the city limits but the bunkers were all packed into a defensive circle towards the center of the city. Hunter teams were left where they were; it was understandable because his commanders had no clue as to what exactly these people were capable of.

"This is the defensive plan our forces should adopt for the best chances of victory." An emotionless, artificial voice bounced off the metal walls. "It allows us to use our firepower much more effectively and concentrates grimm into tunnels we can use as killing zones. Our weapons have an effective range of five-hundred meters, meaning we should try and avoid engagements on an open field. The few tanks we have can now support the infantry in larger groups, increasing killing power. Harriers will be able to assist multiple areas in short amounts of time…any problems with this?"

"Yes!" The shrill voice of a female professor cried out. "This abandons huge parts of the city, and the _people _that live there to the mercy of the grimm! I thought we were protecting the city, not leaving it to burn!" Multiple mumbles of agreement showed the Schnee representatives and head that this would not work.

"We cannot afford to cover the entire city, it will spread our forces too thin. The roads are smaller the further we go out, meaning tanks will have to go single file, further reducing their combat ability." Glowing blue mechanical eyes met brown as the two stared each other down; Augustus noticed Ozpin subtlety changing a few things. Soon the tanks were spread about the perimeter with the sentry guns and the defensive circle in the city was expanded.

Ozpin calmed the rising tension by drawing attention back to the simulation screen. "Perhaps this is better? Your armor will be able to retreat long before the grimm arrive, their ranged weaponry will allow them to pound the grimm as they cross this new wasteland you created."

"The problem is that the artillery," a yellow pinging icon highlighted the mentioned vehicles. "needs to be protected if we are to win this battle. Unlike you hunters and huntresses we are specialized in ranged combat, meaning that once the grimm get close our effectiveness drops significantly. No amount of impromptu training will fix that. If they break through one position we are spread too thin to try and close the gap, the grimm would be free to flank our positions at their leisure."

Once more the soulless eyes of metal helmets met an onslaught of angry glares and one of the four once more shrunk the line but kept the tanks where they were. That was a good idea and they were not prideful enough to reject something just because they hadn't thought of it.

Goodwitch finally joined the conversation in her usual strict and cold tone. "Since you so worried about these line breaches…" Multiple orange lines soon ran through the city as multiple circles were drawn. "This will still cover your precious artillery and prevent a single break from causing a mass collapse. Our hunter teams will be able to defend at all lines of defense and escape should one fail, they are fast enough to outrun most grimm and strong enough to quickly kill those that catch them. Is this satisfactory to everyone?" Her tone suggested that no amounts of protest would change this plan, however his air force commander had a few things to say.

"This still spreads our AA far too thin for comfort. Our aircraft are strong and well-armed but cannot go toe to toe with a Nevermore, the feathers they shoot throw the craft off balance and cause it to plummet to the ground. We need air supremacy if this battle is to be won, extractions and resupplies need to be done and support given at a moment's notice" Somehow his voice seemed angrier and condescending as he continued. "Your obsession with protecting civilians will only end with everyone dead. What's better, one and a half million or one million dead? We cannot protect everyone this time; we simply don't have the forces needed to do so. I'm sorry, but it is a necessary sacrifice."

Augustus tuned out the debate that raged for far too long. The hunters needed to accept that thousands of people were going to die regardless of their actions. The civilians would not be saved this time, it was unfortunate but true. They had waited too long to tell anyone of this imminent crisis and now everyone was paying the price.

Somewhere along the line an agreement was finally reached. Hunter teams were to be assigned a Harrier that would evac and insert them when needed, they were to be the shock troopers and relieve strained defense lines. Their other purpose was to attack the grimm where-ever possible, cause chaos and force them to constantly watch their backs whenever they advanced. Multiple defense lines were to be made and multiple lines of defensive equipment were to be established. The armor would stay on the outskirts and then retreat once the grimm got too close, that was a sound plan, sentries would remain powered until destroyed and the few ships they had would support the best they could. The air-force was to always remain alert due to AA coverage not being what they wanted, but few Nevermore should be able to penetrate their defensive guns. Artillery was to stay well behind the lines of combat due to their lack of mobility and hammer the grimm as they approached the city and provide close fire support to areas that needed it.

The critical part of the plan was the part the tanks were to play in counter-attacking. Due to their speed only Nevermore would be able to catch them, only Death Stalkers could really damage them due to increased armor thickness and aura shielding, they would be key in attacking the grimm where it hurt. Hunter teams would be inserted within an armored groups area of operation, allowing the hunters to be able to call in support should their Harrier be unable to reach them. By the time it was said and done the simulation they ran had them winning an overwhelming victory, only taking ten-thousand casualties and the grimm being completely annihilated.

When Augustus finally left that metal meeting room he was at last confident that they would be able to hold this city without much trouble. The grimm were disorganized animals, they were highly advanced, highly organized and intelligent humans with technology their ancestors wouldn't have even dreamed of having. This was going to be easy.

* * *

The following months proved to be easy for Augustus once the vote was concluded, he had won. Now that it was official the ones holding out finally conceded defeat and went back to work. Schnee Dust was making money once more. Vale City was now a fortress, with a wall of mines surrounding the city and 2 whole miles of forest cleared all around nothing was going to surprise them. The only problem was that the grimm numbers continued to swell as the mass of black got closer and closer to the city. With high-altitude scouting solidifying the number at well over one hundred and fifty thousand the situation was getting bleaker by the day.

That didn't stop him from hoping everything would be okay though, his daughter was going to be in that mess after-all. Speaking of Weiss his commanders knew well that should the situation crumble Weiss was to be immediately extracted and taken to safety. He didn't care if she resented him for it, at least she would be able to resent him. The grimm were to arrive tomorrow…with a sigh Augustus summoned his personal guard and made a decision he was sure to regret later. Even if it killed him he wanted to at least be in the same city as Weiss when this all came crashing down around them, Augustus was more than sure he could contribute to the effort should he chose to enter the fray, but that was not why he was going. He was going to observe and be there for Weiss should anything…happen to her friends or girlfriend.

**AN: Alright folks. Now you know the numbers, plan, and next chapter you will be put into the combat and specs of the machines of war Schnee Dust makes. You already know the specs of the infantry, I covered it in depth a bit back. Now, I want you opinion on how I will be writing this combat. I plan on doing POV fighting, nothing like Ruby's POV or a hunters POV, rather, I will be going into an AA persons POV, then a tankers, infantrymen ect. This will take a TON of time for me to write, so feedback quick is helpful. The POV's will not be in that order, nor will it be spasmatic, the sections I write for each will be small chapters themselves, so this could very-well go into 10k plus in word count. It could take all week or even month to do if I hit a lot of roadblocks, but that is the game plan. If you object I could change this, but I pry won't, I was torn on even informing you guys of this but oh well. **

**Onto my question. Should I make plans for Yang in this story sometime? Blake will play a role later on but I have yet to put Yang anywhere...should I? You thoughts are appreciated. As is my little fandom of 50-60 peeps. You guys rock! For those who faved and followed but didn't review, this is your second and likely last chance on affecting the fate of characters in this story. If you want to see Yang this is your only opportunity to save her from being left behind in this story. Good day to you all! **

**Edited as of May 5th 2014**


	11. Man vs Beast

A Different Perspective

_1200 Hours_

_City Limits_

_Captain T. Strong, First Armored Battalion _

_Ensign "Hammer Head"_

"Command says grimm will be arriving within the hour, stay on your toes, the second you see movement is the second you fire."

"Roger."

"Will do."

"Acknowledged."

Flicking off his headset, Targa Strong looked around the inside of his Sabertooth's cabin.

"You're not seriously nervous, are you Captain?"

Was he? Possibly. It wasn't everyday you went against a grimm force that outnumbered you 3-1. Sure, the Sabertooth tank was a work of art; with its 200mm of synthetic armor nothing could penetrate its tough hull. The gun was a 140mm smoothbore cannon and carried 120 13 pound rounds of tungsten ammo, not to mention the three .50 caliber machine guns mounted that could be manually operated from the inside, though they just kept them automated. It was based off the previous tank they piloted, the Tiger II, so it looked extremely similar. Only the turret had changed to accommodate the new massive gun; Schnee Dust widened the entire turret and sloped the sides even further than they already were. The end result was a wider, flatter turret placed further forward on the chaise, allowing for more gun depression. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. With a top speed of 66 MPH it was the fastest 70 ton tank to grace humanity so far. No, Targa was completely confident in his machine. What made him...jumpy was how few tanks he had under his command and the amount of civilians going about their daily lives behind him. It was a good thing the rest of his squad mates did not know the details.

"Not at all Private. Keep your eyes on that scope."

His gun had a range of one and a half miles and could see out to three, with two miles worth of barren wasteland he and his small squad would be able to fire as soon as they came within range. The mines began at the half mile marker, meaning that they would only have half a mile of window to fire at.

"Sir, I have movement."

"Give me the scope." His voice was much too shaky.

The first signs of grimm movement were the precursor to his headphones exploded with shouts of grimm sightings before going silent. Before the first Beowolf even stepped out of the veil of green, dirt and trees were thrown into the air as artillery shells rained down on the forest in glorious plumes of red as the dust inside the shells ignited into colorful flame. Even his tank shook from impact after impact of high explosive artillery shell landed on target. He almost felt bad for the dark creatures as they ran from the trees, many of them alight, only to fall down flailing their limbs in an attempt to put the fire out. It wouldn't work, that dust had been engineered to stay alight until it burnt whatever it landed on to ash.

The battlefield was silent as the bombardment stopped and whatever Grimm left fled back into the burning forest they came from. Looking through his scopes he saw nothing but fire, however when he looked behind him he saw nothing short of chaos as the civilians tried to organize themselves and find the nearest shelter. The only completed ones were inside the defensive line, so they had quite a ways to go before they encountered any friendly forces. As the grimm showed their ugly faces once more, Captain Strong had to stop himself from gasping in no small amount of shock and fear. A wave of black, white and red greeted his vision as the grimm emerged en-force from the blazing forest. He still heard the mumbles of disbelief from his fellow tankers, but he was their leader, he was not allowed to show weakness.

Voice much more confident then he felt, Strong issued his orders. "Priority targets only. Do not waste you shells on cannon fodder. Group of seven Death Stalkers spotted. Engage when in range."

Three beeps greeted his ears before he ordered his own crew to pick their targets. Tank vibrating as the shell was fired, Strong watched as his target was gutted from head to tail in a shower of gore before the area explode into brilliant flame.

"Target eliminated. Recalibrate."

Seeing three more Stalkers go up in the same bloody fashion, Strong saw congregations of Ursa Majors stumble into range. Sending a small red laser into the sea of black, his other crewmen were made aware of the target change through their HUDs and loaded and HE round into the chamber before firing the shell into the descending horde. Artillery had support finally arrived at their location and cratered the wasteland turned battlefield before Strong's eyes. He was unable to admire the explosions; they went as quickly as they came. There were too many targets and not enough time to issue orders.

He was beginning to panic as more and more Death Stalkers entered range. "Fire at will!" Like that the four tanks fired and countless grimm were wiped from the face of the planet, but it wasn't enough. Feeling the tank shake once more, Strong watch yet another Death Stalker explode into a shower of blood before being consumed by a fireball. A kill there, a kill here, what did it matter? They just kept coming!

The first mine had been set off, it flew from the ground before exploding into a brilliant white and freezing everything around it. The grimm were all frozen in place before they were trampled under the feet of their own comrades. Everywhere in front of them flashes of red, green, and white could be seen as the minefield was breached on all fronts. The noisy sentries began to spin as the operators found targets, then the signature saw like sound and the minigun was heard as masses of bullets flew from their many chambers. The horde was getting dangerously close but the order to retreat had yet to be given.

"Activate the .50 cal guns. Do not manually operate, focus on the big ones." His voice betrayed him this time, for the first time in many years his voice shook with fear rather than anger. For a gruesome thirty seconds the only sounds that could be heard were tank guns firing, the boom of the .50 cals and the annoying buzz of miniguns.

"Command to all armor leaders, fall back. Repeat, fall back. Your job is done."

"Thank Gods." The relief in his voice evident, Strong gave the order to retreat. "Let's get the hell outa here. Retreat to Defense Line Al-"

"Not yet!" A nasally voice cut Strong off. "Give us five more minutes. The air evac is almost done!"

"Hunter Team JNPR, you do not have the authority to be on this channel or issue any commands. Your connection has been severed. First Armored Division, retreat immediately."

This was his chance to do something good, to save rather than kill, but could he do it? He was thinking of putting the lives of his crewmates, teammates, at risk just to get some get some 'redemption'. Was he really that selfish?

"Hammer Head stays command." Apparently he was. That had been broadcasted over the brigade radio and it seemed the rest of the Brigade shared his sentiment. They would hold.

"Stalker at 300 meters! Take him down!" That did not mean it would be easy. The minefield was gone and now all that stood between them and the horde of Grimm was a measly seven hundred feet. The Beowolves were already piling at their tracks as the .50 cal guns did their job, the street in-front of them ran red with the blood of grimm as they were torn apart by the hail of bullets they met as they ran mindlessly forward. "Major at 100 meters! Someone take him down _now!_" The pavement split as shell after shell hammered into the onslaught of grimm and a screen of smoke began to obscure their vision.

Tank suddenly lurching, Targa come eye to eye with the angry gaze of a Ursa Major as his tank groaned in effort to move its turret. The thing was holding his gun with its armored claws! "Run that basterd over!" With a lurch his driver ran the monster over and all that was left was the mangled body of an Ursa Major with its bones jutting out and blood pooled under its broken body. Seventy tons of metal would do that to anything. Beowolves were climbing onto their tanks, their turrets overwhelmed with the multitude of targets. The turrets were sealed, but it was still disturbing to watch the creatures of darkness claw desperately at their weapons and tank. Reversing over the dead Major the stinger of a Stalker bounced off his aura barrier, with a flurry of light the barrier went down and the Sabertooth let loose a panicked shot that split its attacker in two. His comrades weren't fairing much better, their barriers were still up but they were rapidly being overwhelmed by the never-ending black white of the grimm menace.

"We are getting the fuck out of here! Grey, go first!" He was through with this, screw redemption and sacrifice, he just wanted to live another day. "Command, Hammer Head is in full retreat! Expect a lot of company!"

Seeing the first of his unit move into the thin roadway they arrived here with Strong ordered the others through the gap before following, but not before a Stalker left a dent in the side of his Sabertooth. That Stalker was now an empty husk, but it granted him little satisfaction after experiencing that. As fast as those fuckers were they would never catch up to them, they were going 45 MPH in full reverse and all guns ready. Heaving a sigh of relief, the tank leader looked down at his holographic map and smiled. The evac was complete and they had lost no armor. They were lucky those barrier upgrades and new hull thickness were in place, otherwise they would have been gutted by that last strike.

* * *

_1330 Hours_

_Defense Line Alpha, Outpost "Water Break" _

_Sergeant First Class J. Whitefeild, Third Infantry Company_

"I hear the grimm took a beating from our tanks. This shit'll be easy." The utter arrogance of that man was going to drive him insane.

"Would you just man that turret and shut-up? Yes, that's an order _private._" James Whitefeild did not demand much from the men under his command, all he wanted was competence and discipline. This moron had neither. It was hard to convey ones disgust due to the artificial voices all of them had, but he was sure he had somehow managed it.

"Sir, lookout reports grimm movement not far from the bridge."

"Thank you corporal. Relay that to the radio man so he can tell command. Though I doubt we will have much trouble, this is an easily defensible position." That was very true. The bridge they were tasked with defending was very wide, but it was also very long. They hadn't bothered taking measurements beyond the 500 meter mark, but it was fucking huge. To defend this bridge his superior was given three class A bunkers, five anti-tank guns and two hundred fifty infantry. Class A bunkers were very small, basically domes with a large slit used to fire out of, but the anti-tank guns would kill just about any grimm with one solid hit. Machine guns had yet to be refitted with the new laser tech, so everything was .50 cal, they had three guns per bunker as well as sandbags blocking the rest of the bridge. Steel towers stood with gaps in them to allow multiple people to fire from them and the basic design of the anti-tank gun had not changed since its creation. It was simply a big-ass gun with two pieces of shielding coming out to protect the crew, though with these HUDs inside their helmets it was hard to miss a big target, especially if it was a Death Stalker. The guns were positioned on artificial platforms so they could fire above the lines of infantry they had along the sandbags.

"Major wants you to know that command expects a heavy attack to come this way. They have a hunter team on standby should we need assistance. Give the word and they will be here."

With a nod Whitefeild replied "Good to know. ETA on the air-"

"Grimm spotted downrange! Beowolves and Ursa cresting!" A loud siren accompanying the yell, the men of the Third Infantry Company assumed their positions with rehearsed speed. Machine guns were cocked; laser guns activated, snipers armed, mortars ready to fire and anti-tank rounds were ready to be thrown down range. No amount of training or simulation could prepare him for what he saw barreling down towards them. Grimm, thousands of them, white armor and claws gleaming in the sunlight. They stood there, frozen in fear for a few precious seconds before the barking voice of their Major snapped him and his men from their stupor. With resounding booms rounds were rapidly fired, reloaded, and fired again as pavement reached for the sky as shells rained down on the rapidly approaching grimm. Flashes of red guts and blood were all Whitefeild could make out through due to the range, but it was still a gruesome sight to behold. Mortar shells careened over his head and popped mid-flight to light the bridge on fire as red dust lit and burned anything it touched. It was horrifying; the dying screams and wails of the creatures of darkness.

Still they came, like an unstoppable force they had made their way into weapons range. The relentless thumping of 50. caliber guns woke Whitefeild from his trace and he joined in firing as fast as he could at the advancing wave of darkness. Blue flashes were all they could see as the lasers tore their way through the grimm's ranks. Limbs were severed, heads rolled, sides were lost and skulls turned to dust as the Schnee Infantry fired with reckless abandon. Armor piercing shells gutted Stalking after Stalker, only for others to take their place. Then it all went to hell, Boarbatusk's shot forward like dots of white from the grimm wave and crashed into the defensive line and forced most to stop firing. With the infantry now desperately fighting off a wave of Boarbatusk the rest were free to run forward under the onslaught of metal and fire but free of laser fire.

Looking up from the dead body at his feet, Whitefeild nearly cried in anguish when he saw the wave of grimm no more than 30 meters away. There was no way they were going to get through this. "Get ready for melee combat! Protect the guns and bunkers at all costs!" Drawing his blade, James leveled his sword at the closest enemy and lunged into battle. He may die today, but at least he would die protecting humanity from these beasts. It was utter chaos, with man and beast alike trading blow after blow in brutal melee. To his right a man was being torn limb by limb by a group of Beowolves before a fiery explosion ended the cries of anguish and his attackers. Twisting around the attack of his own Beowolf James gutted the animal with a simple swing of his sword. Pulling his pistol James shot wildly into horde as his friends were impaled and beheaded around him.

"Hold the line! We cannot let these things take this bridge!" A surge of white and blue armor swelled and fired into the mob of man and beast. The bunkers had been lost long ago, but fifty men still remained outside of the fight and were simply firing into the mass, either uncaring or too panicked to care that they could be hitting their own men. The only thing keeping them alive were the anti-tank guns as they continued their unrelenting defense against the creatures of darkness, no Death Stalker would get by them as long as they lived. The hunter team had been contacted but it all seemed so hopeless.

The sounds of approaching Harriers however instilled new hope in the survivors, already desperate men dug deeper to fight and live another day. Even as an arm was tore off or leg taken they still stabbed or shot their attacker and moved onto the next one. The sounds of spinning miniguns caused James to finally pause and look up towards the darkening sky, it seemed like it was about to rain. Three Harriers now hovered above their desperate struggle and with a whine the six miniguns expelled round after round into the mob on the bridge. The back of one opened and flashes of red, white, black and yellow were all he saw before the Schnee Heiress herself saved his stomach from Beowolf claws and gracefully beheaded the beast. Watching on in muted shock he saw this group of teenagers cut their way through the melee and relieve the survivors from their previously desperate struggle. Now it was the grimm who were being pushed back over the sandbags.

With a cry the remaining men of the Third Infantry Company rallied around the team of huntresses and covered the teens as they cut their way through the dwindling grimm numbers. Rose pedals blew past him as he watched a small girl with a scythe twirl her way through Beowolf and Ursa alike in a show of gore he had never had the displeasure of seeing. Soon enough all that was left were the broken bodies of man and grimm laying side by side on the now red bridge. Medics were dropped off from the two remaining Harriers, already the team of hunters was boarding the one they came in with not a drop of blood on them, and were out of sight before anyone could thank them. He could see thick black smoke rising from the area they had gone towards, but he really could not bring himself to care. James had done many horrible things in his life, seen even worse, but nothing beat this. This was so brutal, so gory, so gruesome...he didn't really want to think about it. All that mattered was that they held, and now they could detonate this damned bridge and retreat to line Beta. Much of the line was not nearly as lucky as they were.

* * *

_1500 Hours_

_Outer Vale Airspace, beyond Alpha Defense Line_

_Pilot S. Fey_

Being a pilot had its perks, for one it detached you from the horrific ground combat, especially when fighting grimm. It also allowed one to easily run away should things begin to deteriorate, though the best part was probably being able to transport very...eccentric individuals. Currently some girl in a pick skirt was going on about how sloths sounded and the eastern fellow she was talking to just sat there with the most embarrassed look on his face. The red-head and blonde were content to simply watch the debacle unfold, though there was seriousness in their eyes that she wasn't really comfortable with. The only thing she knew about this assignment was that she and her co-pilot needed to transport and support these hunters in their missions. Up until now that had meant moving civilians, now they were deep in enemy territory and she was supposed to drop these guys off whenever they wanted to get off.

Apparently they were to cause a ruckus in enemy lines and then vanish via extraction to create some chaos in the enemy ranks. From what she had heard the Alpha line had been obliterated by the overwhelming numbers of the grimm, only the bridges had held, Beta Line was well fortified and in much better positions and allowed artillery support. The grimm had yet to even make a move on that defensive line, though that was likely due to their Nevermores getting turned into falling fountains of blood by their AA guns. Those things were brutal. Getting the signal from the blonde boy, Savannah descended into the empty streets of Vale city and lowered the ramp, letting the young hunter team out, before raising the ramp and ascending once more. Grey clouds had blocked out the sun not long ago and small droplets of water were hitting the glass every now and again.

From the chatter she heard over the radio the defense of the city wasn't going exactly as planned, Alpha line was supposed to have been able to hold against the first wave, however most of the armor that was supposed to of supported the line had to be diverted to a major break on the eastern side of the city. This had caused a logistics nightmare for the commanders and before they could reorganize Alpha line was already decimated. That wasn't to say the grimm had not paid for their gains, dead grimm littered the streets and outskirts of the city as well as the now gone Alpha line. Her thoughts were broken when something pinged on their radar. Looking through the cameras on all side of the aircraft on her HUD, Fey could not find a shred of movement. Hovering in place, they got another ping, thing time a huge one, and the two pilots shared a look before completely focusing on flying their plane. Something was out there, likely a Nevermore.

"To our right!" The sudden yelling of her co-pilot broke her concentration on the world around her. Jerking her stick backwards Fey watched the white mask of a Nevermore pass just feet away from the cockpit. Regaining control the two pilots watched in mute horror as the giant bird flew barreled right through a tower, causing it to fall to the ground in a shower of concrete and metal.

"Shit. We won't be able to kill that thing."

"Doesn't mean we can't try" Was her cool response.

Rotating the engines, Savannah darted forward in pursuit of the over sized raven. The HUDs in their helmets cam alight as their enemy was sighted turning to meet them. Her partner prepared the missiles as she pushed the Harrier forward, the two twin miniguns firing all the way. As expected the rounds simply bounced off the think armor around its face and the feathers that covered its body. With a grunt Savannah felt her stomach flip and she twisted her craft into a roll to avoid colliding with its ugly ass face. Their only advantage was that they could outmaneuver this monstrosity. Sharply turning, the Harrier hovered in place as one frustrated Nevermore turned to find its target. With an ear piercing shriek it came full speed towards the small plane.

"Do we have a lock?"

"Few more seconds."

"We don't have a few damn seconds!"

Rocket pods opening small holes throughout the wings of the Harrier were seen before missiles came careening out of the openings. Streaks of smoke closing the distance the small dots of red vanished into a multicolored explosion as they hit the Nevermore. With no time to spare Savannah went backwards as fast as she could. That thing was far from down. Miniguns spinning she let loose two deadly streams of white as the Nevermore emerged from the blast, its mask cracked and wings smoking but still attached.

"We can't outrun it going backwards."

"I know that!" The stress was finally getting through to her, her cool demeanor was cracking under the pressure. However she had a plan. A single person could easily fly a Harrier, the reason two people still piloted was because one could do all the weapons firing while the other flew the craft. There was a reason they wore those light blue G-suits.

"Giving you full weapons control Mark, keep up the fire."

Without waiting for a response Savannah focused on getting this maneuver right. Seeing the gap in the line of skyscrapers they were reversing towards she fired the side thruster and cut the reverse. The result was a sudden jerk to the right as the Nevermore barreled past the gap they just escaped into. Ignoring the sudden urge to puke Savannah bolted back out into the space where they had just come from and darted towards the now confused Nevermore. They were going to have to throw everything at it now.

"Fire everything."

With those words the remaining fifty missiles rocketed towards the still Raven and engulfed it in another multicolored explosion. The craft vibrating from the fire of the miniguns Savannah prayed to whatever Gods existed that the over-sized bird was finally dead; they did not disappoint. The smoking carcass of the Nevermore crashed down onto the highway below and moved no more. The two pilots gave small sighs of relief as the tension drained from their body.

"Remind me to never do that again." Her partner was such a smart ass.

"I don't think we really plan on this shit. Ever think this is why you don't have a boyfriend?" They always did have the oddest friendship.

"Perhaps. You think Josh is gay? My gaydar isn't working too well."

"He is in the closet. Though I'm sure you could coax him out." Feeling Mark halfheartedly punch her shoulder brought a smile to her face.

"Team JNPR to Overwatch, we need assistance; large group of grimm bearing down on us." The nasally voice of JNPR's leader ended their conversation, he was a good kid, but his voice was a bit aggravating.

"Acknowledged. We will be there momentarily." With a sigh Savannah lowered her Harrier closer to the ground and closed in on JNPR's location. Rounding a corner she was met with the sight of dead Death Stalkers and hundreds of Beowolves, Ursa, and Boarbatusks charging towards the teenage hunters from a single road. It was a shame they wasted all their heavy ordnance on that damnable bird.

"We don't have the ability to take them all down." Feeling her seat vibrate as Mark unloaded into the encroaching black and white she kept the craft steady. "Do you want to get outa here or stay?" Even after years of flying she would never get used to the sprays of blood their guns would cause. The shear amount of gore flying skyward was enough to make her sick.

"We completed our mission. Get us outa here." With that she lowered her plane even further and hovered six meters from the ground. Lowering the ramp she didn't have to wait two seconds before tell-tale thumps told her that heir hunter team had simply jumped into the cargo bay. Moving higher into the sky, Savannah simply hovered and allowed her partner to wipe the grimm out. They couldn't dream of even trying to attack them, though it was a waste of ammo.

"Anything else you kids need to do or can we leave this hell-hole?" She was dead serious, this part of the city was full of nothing but eaten bodies, pulverized grimm, collapsed buildings and smoking wreckage. Gave her the creeps.

"No, no. We can leave. We got what we came for." His voice was shaky but she paid it no mind. The amount of blood and violence his job entailed was probably catching up to him. It was about time these kids faced the reality of what hunters and huntresses did. Choosing not to comment, she closed the ramp and shot off towards home base. They would only be able to rest for two hours as their bird was refueled and refit, but that was still two hours and Savannah really wanted to fucking sleep.

* * *

_1800 Hours_

_Unknown Location_

_Captain T. Strong_

_Ensign "Hammer Head"_

Today was not his day that much he was sure of. He and his small unit's retreat was cut off by a large group of Ursa Majors that seemingly came out of nowhere. Now they were stuck wandering the devastated outskirts of the city due to the sudden collapse of the first defense line. The bridges had already been blown by the time command realized they were stuck far behind enemy lines. He had ordered all non-essential equipment to be shut off to conserve fuel, so the only light on was the red emergency light and the only radio signal allowed was their emergency transponder that gave command their location. Radio silence was suffocating but needed, their tanks were just barely kept running so they made as little noise as possible. He had ordered them to take shelter in a concrete parking garage not long ago and they were now just waiting for any sign that the people at the top had not just abandoned them. At least their aura barrier was up again.

"Hammer Head, this is hunter team RESQ, we have four harriers ready to extract you guys." Talk about miracles. That huntress must be their savior.

"Thank Gods. We thought we were forgotten about. ETA?" He may have sounded like a desperate child, but at this point he really didn't care. He just wanted to get back to base, take a shower, then sleep for the next week.

"Ten minutes, but you should get out of that building you're in. We can see grimm converging on your position."

Why couldn't anything be easy? "Roger, moving now." With a click he switched to team radio. "You heard to girl, get your metal asses moving! We can finally get the hell outa here." Switching his own tank on and taking all systems out of dormant mode, he was the first to leave the concrete building and move down the paved yet narrow roads of the outer city. Two tanks could fit at one time, but only just.

"Get a round loaded, we wouldn't want to be surprised now." The response he got was the thump of a shell being loaded into the chamber. He had two choices, he could either keep them moving down the narrow streets or bunker down in an intersection. Moving had its benefits, but it robbed them of their main advantage, if they didn't have time to aim then their big guns were worthless.

"Next intersection choose a road and hunker down. This is going to get ugly." Looking down at his map, Strong made sure that this was the right choice. They would have 700 meters of space between them and the grimm when they finally charged their position, nothing would prevent the aircraft from picking them up quickly, and they could easily escape if one side is breached. Nodding his head, Strong once more looked through his scope and waited for the inevitable grimm horde.

"Don't be picky with your ammo here. This is it, if we don't get out now we never will."

"Roger that Captain"

"Already planned on it."

"Grimm spotted on my end! Opening fire!"

Feeling the vibrations from his comrade's shot, Targa Strong had to remind himself to no vomit as he saw too many grimm and not enough space between them and him. "Fire! HE rounds only! Blow these fuckers sky high!"

Sabertooth shaking, Strong watched as a massive explosion engulfed the road he was looking at. He paid little mind to the rocking of his tank as the others in his units fired their own rounds at the black menace. "Death Stalker! AP now!" hearing the thump he had come to love Strong pulled the trigger and saw his target gutted before going up in flame, even the AP rounds had red dust in them. A normal crew could load a shell in two seconds, his could do it in one, that one second was going to be worth everything in this battle. Sending another shell down range Strong felt his body go numb as screaming was heard over the radio, one of his tanks guns had jammed. As much as he worried for his fellow tankers, Strong was not allowed the luxury of worry as another one of those over-sized scorpions came into view. With the pull of a trigger the thing was wiped from this plane of existence.

For minuets nor grimm got past the stalwart defenders, but all good things eventually came to an end. The 50. cals were now able to hit grimm, but that was not a good thing, they were getting too close. With every Stalker or Ursa Major that was eviscerated two more took their place, just where did all these things come from?! Hearing a softly muttered curse, Strong looked over his fellow tankers and couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him. An Ursa Major was pounding on his comrade's turret, preventing them from doing anything other than hold on for dear life. Putting his targeting laser on the target, his veteran crew leapt into action, rotating the turret and gutting the bastard in under four seconds. That save came at a cost though, a Major on his side had closed the small gap and slammed into the front of his Sabertooth, almost knocking him from his seat.

"Turn the damn turret!" And so it was done, the barrel slammed into the unarmored side of the Major Ursa, breaking bones, and crushed the gigantic bear between its barrel and concrete. Beowolves once more were overwhelming their automated guns and the once blue armor was stained red as the grimm's blood poured down onto the cold metal.

Bullet casing falling to the cracked concrete and bouncing off the hulls of the tanks their situation was getting increasingly desperate. The bodies of grimm were mounting but they were running out of shells to fire. "RESQ, ETA on that pickup?!" That was their last shell right there. "We are out of time!"

Suddenly the entire intersection went up in brilliant explosions as friendly aircraft provided danger close support. Hearing a distant 'right here', Strong couldn't hear much over the countless missiles and bullets being expelled by the Harriers above them. Feeling his tank being suddenly lifted Strong and his crew heaved a collective sigh of relief as the harriers lifted them via magnet out of the chaos. Once more Strong thanked whatever scientist came up with the aura magnifier and the increased thickness of their tanks hull. The only reason those missiles didn't fry them was because auras blocked out everything, including heat and cold. That was the main reason hunters could move like they did, their auras prevented their senses from being overwhelmed by all the stimuli. Though just how they breathed and the specifics of it all still had yet to be discovered. It didn't matter now though, now all that mattered was that he, his crewmen, and his teammates would be able to go home, eat, shower, and finally get some damn sleep. (No, that magnetic carrying is not made up. Look back at episode 16, that thing is simply hulling around a huge shipping container without any hooks or wires. So magnetic force made the most sense.)

* * *

_2100 Hours _

_Vale City Headquarters _

_Lieutenant General C. Schnee_

Things were not going as planned. For one they had lost well over six hundred tanks to a massive push by a force that was made up of almost exclusively Death Stalkers, it was estimated that well over seven thousand of those over-sized insects had broken through their line and forced them to divert all their armor to close the breach. That caused their first line of defense to collapse under the grimm onslaught, they were not allowed to use artillery the defend the first line as to conserve ammo, so when all the grimm came crashing down on the small defenses of the first line most had simply been slaughtered. Ten thousand men were either MIA or KIA, though those who were MIA had some chance of survival due to the grimm not being nocturnal creatures.

Of the little they knew of grimm biology, the one confirmed fact was that they hunted during the day and rested at night. This was why they were sending out hunter teams on foot to do as much damage as possible, they were fighting a losing battle at this point. The Nevermore that came within range of their AA guns were torn to pieces, but for the most part they stayed out of range and were content to attack the lone harrier. Many hunter teams were MIA, though he doubted they were dead, it took more than a crash to kill those juggernauts. Playing with his small holographic map at his desk, the young Schnee ordered a few thousand infantry from the reserves to reinforce the second line of defense. Actually…he was going to have to discuss his idea with his fellow generals, but abandoning the second line and consolidating their resources into a single line was the best course of action. They had lost too much to spread out anymore, the long highways into the city center would have to be their final line.

Delaying his previous order, Charles Schnee shared his thoughts with his peers and awaited their responses. It was risky, and surely the hunters would get their self-righteous panties in a bunch, but this was really their only option. The grimm were too numerous and their own forces too weak to hold their current positions. This lull in activity was their window to reorganize, though already armor units were being sent out to hunt the beasts down as they rested. They were fast enough to get back to the last line should this plan be approved. This was far from conventional warfare, this battle was going to be decided tomorrow now that the grimm were inside the city. Had this been a human force it would have taken weeks, possibly months for the battle to reach its climax. That was because human commanders understood patience and maneuvering, grimm did not, they simply rushed in and devoured everything in their path. They didn't even bother to use the insides of the buildings for cover! The grimm truly were mindless beasts.

The civilian casualty rate was…acceptable. Many had been lost in the initial strike, the blasted hunters had risked a large portion of their air force air lifting thousands of civilians to safety, and they were lucky the Nevermore hadn't shown up and decimated their aircraft. The only reason they had been able to stall the grimm as they had was due to airstrikes wiping out masses of the creatures. Then the Nevermore showed up and shot that all to hell, before offensive air operations were halted they had lost over two hundred of their precious harriers. Most civilians had ample time to make it to the shelters located within the last line of defense though, with 1.2 million people accounted for a mere 300,000 civilians were to be assumed dead until proven otherwise. That was pretty impressive.

Smirking down at his scroll, Charles allowed himself to feel some pride. His plan was accepted as the best solution to the current problem, though as predicted Ozpin and some Crow? Quow? Weren't happy with the decision, hunters were trained to never give grimm a single foot, an inch, they were to be unbreakable shields against the black and white menace. They needed to understand that this was not some idealistic 'hunt' into the unexplored regions, this was a god damn warzone, people were dying all the time and nothing they did would change that. He didn't like ordering men to their deaths, but he had accepted long ago that it was part of the job. To achieve victory against an enemy as tenacious as this one needed to make sacrifices, reality wasn't idealistic or kind, the hunters of all people should have understood that.

* * *

_0100 Hours_

_High Rise, approximately 1400 meters above sea level_

_Sargent L. Gray _

_Ensign "Ghost", Sniper Team in Operation "Recovery" _

"We have a Stalker 30 meters West of your position Extract. Extreme caution advised." He really hated this robotic voice the helmet he wore made, the already dry language they were forced to use drained his soul enough as it was.

"Roger, moving now." Another soulless voice responded.

He appreciated the honor of being sent out to find and 'recover' missing hunter teams. While it was a bit arrogant to assume that they would be alive, it wasn't exactly wrong to assume. He had seen a hunter team make a hundred Beowolves paste in seconds, literally seconds! Not even modern tech could do that, outside of heavy artillery or the most recent tank model. Well, perhaps the rifle he had in his hands could do that too, but that was because he was firing it.

The Euryale sniper rifle was, and still is, the most deadly infantry weapon known to man. The barrel itself is four feet long, the stock adds another seven inches, and the scope can see up to five miles away. The gun fired a .70 caliber dust loaded round and left the rifled chamber at 1,000 meters per second, the round itself was made of Tungsten and weighed a pound. The only reason people could carry the damn thing and its ammo was because of the suit he was wearing, it allowed people to carry twice what they normally could using some simple robotics. The effective range of the gun was 3,500 meters, though a few people were known to have gotten kills so far out as 4,500, it couldn't fire as far as it could see, but really who needed to shoot a target four miles away? Besides, the killing power of this weapon more than made up for that little fact. It could pierce the thick armor of a Death Stalker, some well placed shots could bring down a damn Nevermore. It having a 10 round clip and being semi-automatic helped too.

"You think we'll find these fuckers?" That would be his annoying spotter, who did not seem to know how to keep her mouth shut. The only reason he knew she was a she was because of the name, Emily Lindbeck. Hunter families had some weird hard on for symbolism, why they did it he was sure not even they knew.

"Perhaps. These guys are the best humanity has to offer."

"For being the best of the best they sure do need a ton of rescuing." Did he mention she was bitchty? Just how did someone like her get hired? "I see another Stalker 40 meters to their right. Wind is negligible."

Looking through his scope, the night vision built into the suits they wore were a blessing. "Extract, be advised, I am taking out the Stalker West of your current position." He was only 1,500 meters away, he couldn't miss.

"Take the shot."

With that Larson Grey pulled the trigger of his Euryale and felt his body shake as the stock and metal armor he wore absorb the recoil. His bullet embedded itself deep inside the Death Stalker before the red dust inside the one pound round exploded. The creature simply puffed up and fell down limp as smoke exited its mouth and the hole on the top of its head. Just where the brain was he wasn't sure, all the training they had done was very rushed, but he knew the general area. Besides, the bullet exploding on the inside of any Death Stalker was sure to kill it, he just liked making sure.

"Nice shot dude. Right above the eyeballs."

"Thank you, though his friend doesn't look very happy."

"You got that right...oh ho! Looks like those troopers can take care of themselves, the thing just fell down with a single shot to the face!"

"Shooting anything in the eye-socket tends to do that."

"Hey! I'm finally getting something over the radio...tuning you in now." They were equipped with a high range radio to try and get any distress signals. The hunter teams didn't carry a long range transponder and due to the second line being abandoned they were well out of range.

"-am LEAD requesting immediate pick-up. Repeat, this is hunter team LEAD requesting-"

"I think I get the point, transfer the signal to the guys on the ground, I'll talk to the hunters."

"You got it boss." Such an infuriating woman.

"Hunter Team LEAD, this is Ghost, we picked up your transmission and are relaying you our coordinates. Harriers will be here at 1400 hours, so get a move on."

"Oh thank Gods, I thought we were done for!" The leader seemed to be female, the desperate tone of voice suggested that someone was injured or they were just scared. Though from what he knew these guys were third years, so someone was likely injured.

"Grey, we got four Stalkers moving down the road South of Extract's position." It was about time she took her job seriously, though 'sir' would have still been preferred.

Looking to the pinpointed area, Larson Grey barely held onto the anticipation that threatened to throw his aim off. He finally had a challenge! Lining up his first shot, he pulled the trigger and felt the familiar push on his shoulder before shifting and firing again. No more than a second later Grey switched targets and let loose another round, finally moving onto the final target, his rifle recoiled and a boom shook the floor the team was on as the bullet left the chamber and soared through the air. His partner let loose a shocked gasp as all four shots found their mark and all four Stalkers slumped to the ground as smoke came off their carcasses.

"That was some damn good shooting. You should take me out to dinner sometime, I like a man who can shoot."

"I'm not sure your my type, sorry to disappoint."

"Was worth a shot...get it?"

Suppressing a sigh, Larson Grey simply shook his head as another Hunter team made contact with them. It was going to be a long night, but any company was better than none. Perhaps they could exchange some stories over dinner? The more he thought about it the less he really cared, no harm in indulging the woman beside him.

* * *

_0820 Hours_

_Operation Headquarters_

_Pilot S. Fey_

"Where the hell did all these things come from?!" Savannah Fey was one scared ass individual right about now. Out of nowhere hundreds of Nevermore had descended from the sky and massacred their artillery, now the entire air force was embroiled in a desperate battle with the flying monstrosities. Explosions and smoke trails filled the air as desperate pilots fought to win the losing battle. Even with all the hunter teams joining the fray, Ozpin himself was currently on the battlefield, the fight was only deteriorating. Twisting her craft around black feather her partner Mark responded with missiles and bullets of their own.

"I don't think that matters much anymore...oh my gods." Nothing shocked mark, what could have possibly done that? Looking to her right Fey was greeted with the sight of three ravens all flying into the Headquarters building, shattering the concrete steel that held it together. The AA guns had finally re-calibrated and were starting to massacre the Nevermore, but the damage was done...the head of the Schnee Dust Company, their employer, was in that building...

"Alpha Protocol! HQ is down! Recover the Heiress and get the hell outa here! Fey?! Do you copy?!"

"...Yes, Sir. Recovering the heiress now."

It wasn't hard to get Weiss Schnee and her team to cooperate, after telling the young heiress that her father may have been killed she simply walked onto the plane without a word. The one known as Ruby Rose was quick to follow, though she obviously did not know what to say. The other two merely followed with their heads hung, this battle for the city had obviously taken its toll on all four of the young women. Savannah only hoped that they would be able to recover from all this, that they were stronger than her. Even with being detached from the horrors of ground warfare she still had nightmares and mild PTSD when it came to certain...things.

* * *

_0800 Hours_

_Outpost "Steel Wall", Consolidated Defense Line_

_Lieutenant General K. Long _

_Ensign "Hawk"_

Killigan Long was a nervous Lieutenant General, she had just learned that the grimm were moving. This 'outpost' was more fortress than anything. With sixty class D bunkers, five-hundred tanks, seven-thousand infantrymen and all the luggage like anti-tank guns, mortars, ect that came with them she was in one of the safest places in Vale City. That still did not put her mind at ease, even with the knowledge that they would have excessive amounts of artillery support. This was one of three ways the Grimm would be able to enter the city center, the other two had tower after tower collapsed onto the highway until it became an impassable land of concrete and metal. There were no reserves, no next line, no reinforcements. This was it, this was going to be the final battle for Vale City. Either she, her men, and well over one million civilians were going to die today or their lines would hold and over one hundred fifty thousand grimm would be dead or dying in the streets of the abused city. It was quite the thing to ponder.

They were currently holding a super-highway, it was six lanes long on both ends, and would allow them to concentrate their firepower. Why the grimm simply didn't smash their way through the buildings around them she did not know, perhaps something about their psychology? Killigan was only grateful for the grimms apparent stupidity, had they been intelligent humanity would have died long ago. She was actually inside one of the many class D bunkers, they were really a sight to behold. Keeping with the rounded theme of the A class the D class was just a gigantic version of that. With two levels and a spot for an AA or other gun type on the top the many bunkers she had had to be placed in different lines. The highway simply wasn't big enough to hold that many of the monstrosities.

"Sir, grimm spotted four miles out. Your orders?" So this was it huh?

"Bring hellfire down on them. This really is the end of the line here soldier, make ever shot count."

"Yes, Sir!" With a salute he was gone, she would likely never see him again, or most of the people she was currently serving with. Stepping out of the grey bunker, Killigan heard the thunder-like sounds of artillery firing. Grabbing her pair of binoculars she watched in apathy as bright explosions filled the horizon. This really was it, the final encounter and probable final fight of her life. For more time than she cared to think about she simply stared as fire and concrete flew towards the sky as the beautiful explosions got closer, and closer, and closer. Now they were just a mile away, how many were dead? Did it really matter?

"Order the armor to open fire, priority targets only, same goes for the anti-tank rounds. AA guns are clear to engage at will."

With that the world around her seemingly shook as the guns of the First armored Brigade opened up to avenge their fallen comrades. With the wrath of a god shells rained down on the damned creatures as they made their way through the gauntlet. Suddenly the artillery stopped firing...why had they stopped firing?

"Command, this is Hawk, why has the artillery stopped firing?"

"Uuuuhm. We have a bit of a situation here Hawk. The artillery is...down. Repeat, artillery is down. You're on your own from here."

"Hey! Wait! What do you mean we are 'on our own'?! Answer me damnit!" Her only response was silence as the grimm horde got even closer to their front lines. On the top of her command bunker in the back Killigan watched as thousands of weapons opened up on the descending menace. Even as their front line was turned to a red mist the creatures never stopped their crusade against the defenders. With too many Death Stalkers to count and most of the tanks unable to fire over the line of bunkers after they entered a certain range lasers and bullets simply bounced off the charging beasts.

Just as predicted dots of white sprang from the mob of black and slammed into man, metal, and sandbag. The grimm had reached the line, behind them the black stretched like a disease. What Killigan saw would forever haunt her dreams. Death Stalkers snapped men in half and impaled them on stingers, blood oozing from the gut and screams barely audible over the chaotic hell that spread before her. While in her shocked state the tanks of the front line had been torn apart by the claws of Ursa Majors and Death Stalkers, Nevermore flew towards them only to be turned to a bloody mess as the AA guns in the back prevented them from attacking.

Flicking on her radio, Killigan gave an order she knew she would regret. "All tanks, run them over. Show no mercy." With some pause the first of the many tanks stationed behind her command bunker darted through the gaps in the bunkers, being careful to avoid running over its comrades, and slammed full force into the mass of black and white. Flesh and bone met a wall of metal, and the metal won until it was flipped and gutted by three other Death Stalkers. Thousands of men and armor surged forward, meeting the grimm with reckless and desperate abandon. Bone was shattered and metal ripped as the two unrelenting forces clashed and blood stained the previously grayish concrete.

"Oh Gods..."

She could only watch in mute horror as her subordinates were torn apart or gutted by the voracious creatures, for every one slain two would take its place. Killigan was no fighter, her job was to direct, to manage, to present herself with authority and demand respect. This...no amounts of training could have prepared her for this.

"Command...my Gods, they are being slaughtered. You have to send something...anything!"

Still her only response was an eerie static. Had the grimm already broken through the other lines? Was HQ currently infested with Beowolves, Ursa and other beasts of darkness? Was her superior being eaten alive? Was this where she was going to die? Looking out on the growing chaotic hell, Killigan knew that even if she would escape this battlefield that a small part of her had already died, she was never going to be the same again.

Hearing the sounds of approaching aircraft, Killigan looked back and saw at least one hundred Harriers flying towards her. If she was a religious woman she would have praised the Gods, but all she did was numbly watch as rockets sailed across the distance and struck the mass behind the mob. The precision aiming of the miniguns decimated the smaller grimm and hunters rapidly jumped from the side doors of the craft. All around her guns, spells, explosions, and blood rained down as the grimm horde was thinned with every passing second. Was this what real war was like? She didn't want to live anymore, how could she live any longer? After seeing her friends, practically her family get brutally slaughtered in-front of her? Still...her eyes refocused as a grey haired man and blonde woman with glasses tried to talk to her. The grimm were gone, killed, all of them...they had won, but at what cost?

**AN: Holy shit guys. Holy shit. I had one hell of a time writing this, so I hope ya like it. Honestly, even if you don't, I am pretty damn happy with this. Whoo! Rating is officially M now, I would update right now, but I'm going to be greedy and release this tomorrow around lunch time. I would like to try and increase how many peeps read this. Got a solid 60 but I am simply a vain human, gimme a break. I'll never abandon a story or do the 'review if you want chapters!' shit, i cannot stand people who abandon stories or blackmail for content. This is why I ask for feedback without strings attached. As frustrating as it is to have only two people reviewing but 8 followers I'm still grateful for you guys giving this story a chance and reading it. Just so you guys are aware, I plan on making this story pretty damn long...Unless the plot demands Augustus's death, once he dies the story is over, no gimmick to it. **


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: So sorry about the late update! The weekend was brutal for me; working at Hershey Park is not fun at all.**

A Different Perspective

Augustus Schnee was not having a good day. He was stuck in this run down _public _hospital, was not being cleared to leave, and he had a throbbing headache to top it all off, though that was likely due to the stress of worrying about his Company. When the Nevermore came crashing into the building his personal guard had done their jobs perfectly, they shielded him from the debris and got him out before they could be crushed. Sadly that wasn't the end of it all, in the chaos a large piece of concrete slammed into his side. His aura, coupled with the amplifier attached to his hip, shielded him from the brunt of the force but it had still knocked him out and heavily bruised his right leg. His personal guard wasn't really shaken by it, so it wasn't hard for them to get him out of there. The problem was that since he was out of commission, as per his will and orders, Weiss was to take up the mantle as Company Head.

It had only been a day, but so much could go wrong in a day. She could raise the wages of faunus, negotiate a bad deal, mismanage the company funds, trust sleezy advisors who wanted nothing but personal power...she could even marry Ruby. That last thought almost made him laugh, Weiss and Ruby may care deeply about one-another, but it had only been a few months. This stress was really getting to him. Why wasn't he just leaving again? There was no way they could actually keep him here...though annoying the nurse was rather entertaining, constantly hitting the call button would get him out of here faster too.

"Mr. Schnee" There she was! Sadly her voice really was ear grating..."You've been cleared for release, all you belongings..." He just tuned her out after that; he was finally getting out of this commoners den. The quality of equipment was horrendous, manners were non-existent, respect was not given and worst of all the food was just plain bad. Most food had some redeeming qualities, but this stuff was just garbage. He wouldn't feed a dog this food; he actually hadn't eaten anything after the first bite. Hunger was a small price to pay to make sure his stomach didn't regurgitate that poison. Getting up and walking out of the white walled room, Augustus had to resist the urge to limp. His leg was still very painful to walk on but his pride kept his back straight and walk flawlessly elegant. Climbing into his pickup harrier right outside, Augustus continued to worry all the way to his office...that was now Weiss's office.

"Miss. Scarlatina! Has anything unusual transpired in my absence?" This woman had been his secretary and pseudo assistant for years; if anyone knew how he worked it would be this woman. She knew exactly what he was asking. It was a good thing his office was soundproof, otherwise Weiss would be able to hear him outright question her ability.

"Not at all Mr. Schnee, if anything Miss. Schnee has done extremely well in standing up to external pressure. No policies have been changed, though her one faunus team mate is currently in there trying to change that little fact." If there was one thing Augustus could appreciate and respect it was the ability to remain professional, the main reason he had allowed a faunus to be in such a key position was due to her ability and professionalism. Even with his company's less than favorable policies she had never voiced an opinion on the matter or said anything on or off the record outside of the workplace. Such good workers were hard to come by.

"This is good news...thank you, perhaps you will get that raise you've been fishing for. If your ex-husband proves to be an...annoyance, just tell me and we can get that taken care of. Carry on." His tone may always be cold and monotone, but that didn't mean he lacked the ability to care or feel emotion. Work and private life were strictly separated for Augustus; the simple offer to help in personal matters spoke volumes. From the shocked face of the bunny faunus it seemed she understood this fact well.

"O-Of course Sir. Thank you." That odd accent of hers only showed when she was embarrassed; suppressing a chuckle Augustus Schnee opened the doors to _his _office without bothering to knock. His ears were instantly bombarded with the yelling of one Blake Belladonna, he had obviously come at a bad time.

"Why can't you treat faunus equally?! Are you still as racist as your father? Even after all we've been through together?" Blake's characteristic collected and borderline smug tone was long gone, replaced by bitter anger and exasperation.

"It's not that simple. Now that I'm finally here, I can see just what my father does every day and I can finally start to understand why he does the things he does. If he was as racist as you believe would he really have Velvet's mother as his secretary?" Augustus's heart swelled with pride as he shamelessly eaves dropped on the two oblivious teens. Even when arguing with a friend his daughter stood fast and refused to raise her voice, she was a true Schnee. However, this argument did give him an idea...

"Get off your high-horse, Weiss, didn't you say you would change things once _you _ran the show? Didn't you want to be the exact opposite of your _father?"_ The contempt Blake held for him was palpable. He hadn't personally wronged any faunus, why did she hate him so? Perhaps it was because he tried to arrest her that one time...surely it wasn't something as petty as that?

"That promise was made in ignorance, Blake. I'm sorry, but I can no longer keep that promise."

"What would Ruby think if she saw you now?" The response was venomous even to his own ears, the crestfallen expression on Weiss's face though was his queue to intervene. He was going to have to address this apparent weakness with Weiss later, she could not allow her personal feelings to get in the way of what was profitable for the Company.

Clearing his throat, Augustus cut off any response Weiss had to that particular comment. "Weiss, wait outside my office while I speak to Miss. Belladonna in private for a couple of minutes." Unable to respond, why he did not know, Weiss mutely walked by him and paused only to awkwardly pat his shoulder a few times. What was that all about? Hearing the door click shut Augustus walked behind his desk and sat down with a barely restrained groan as he felt the familiar embrace of his chair once more. It had been too damn long. He must have sat there with his eyes closed a little too long because Blake finally cleared her throat to try and get his attention.

"Ah, yes. Blake Belladonna, ex-White Fang member and ex-criminal...though really you don't exist anymore. Only Beacon has any record of your existence and I'm sure even that doesn't really exist anymore. Tell me, why do you hate me and this company so much?" He was going to be nothing but cordial here, he would not stoop to the level of barbaric yelling and insults like she previously had.

"Why shouldn't I?" At least her tone was finally level again; her passion seemed subdued after that spat with his daughter. "You treat my people like animals, forcing them to take the stairs. Use different bathrooms, lower pay, force them into mines and dangerous situations. You refuse to support faunus equality or lift a finger to even help a little bit...your company has done atrocious things."

She had quite the silver tongue; it wasn't so much her words as much as her tone. Soft yet commanding, confident but not overly so. Had Blake gone into speaking he may have had to raise faunus wages sooner than expected. All of this wasn't new to him; Augustus was the one who enforced these policies after-all. What he didn't understand was why she thought the faunus were some special case when it came to these things.

"You realize that none of this is new, right? Schnee Dust has never supported any politically charged movement, nor do we have any responsibility to anyone to give out equal pay or rights within the company. Foreigners have it worse than faunus in many ways, they get paid less and pay more for rent. They also are forced to go through more bureaucracy than faunus to buy a home or even simple goods and they tend to work labor intensive jobs...I don't see you protesting for their rights. I don't see really anyone protesting for some far eastern people's right to an equal wage. Why is that?"

"Most people simply don't know about the plight they go through." Was that doubt he heard in her tone?

"No, you know exactly why there is such injustice in our society...people simply don't care enough to do anything about it. They don't care about people from the east, they don't care about faunus pay nor do they care about your race, species, subgroup, whatever you wish to label it. Who would care, really? At least enough to put their own rights and reputation on the line. The world isn't black and white Miss. Belladonna, people don't wake up thinking of how to be evil, or how they can be unjust today."

"That doesn't excuse what you've done! Power comes with responsibility."

"Responsibility to who? To what? To the King? The people? Society? Many people talk about responsibility but few ever truly understand it. My only responsibility is to myself, I have no obligation to help the faunus or other minorities...so I won't. Until the law requires it of me I will not do it, it's simply not in my interest to do so. Call me selfish all you want, but don't forget it was I who paid the men and women who died defending your school and home." He wasn't trying to be passive aggressive, though he was failing in that aspect. All Augustus wanted was for Blake to understand, to understand that he did not blindly hate the faunus or any one people or culture. He did what he had to to keep the Company profitable and the family flourishing, within reason of course.

It seemed Blake did not want to listen though; her voice was beginning to betray her inner anger. "Have you no empathy? Faunus die in those mines, they die on the street without living wages or health benefits. This goes beyond responsibility, are you even human?" Her eyes were dilating as her anger grew, a common trait among feline faunus.

"I sometimes wonder that myself..." His reply seemed to surprise her, perhaps it was because he sounded a bit regretful? It was true though; sometimes he felt more like a machine than a man, especially when he never left this room for weeks on end. "However, I have a proposition for you. By tomorrow you will have all the information we have collected about faunus and their behavior within the company when given the privileges human employees have on your scroll. I do have logical reasons for preventing your kind from using elevators or the same facilities as humans. It's nothing truly confidential, but this information is rather sensitive, so please do not share it. If you can tell me why I should give faunus the same pay and privileges in a _logical _manner after analyzing the information then I will seriously consider it. That is all; could you please send Weiss in?"

Blake left without a word, not even a thank you. It was rather rude but he was willing to bet she was going through something akin to shock if her face was any indicator. He meant every word he said, though his motives were less noble. This was mainly meant to try and clear the air between himself and the young faunus, Weiss and Blake were to be teammates for the next three years, it would be beneficial if Blake felt like she and all faunus were given the chance to prove themselves. At least that was what his hope was, that and trying to draw negative attention away from Weiss, she obviously held Blake's opinion in high regard.

Speaking of his daughter she was currently nervously fidgeting in front of him, refusing to look him in the eyes. "Weiss..." He hadn't really prepared for this adequately, quickly picking up his scroll he went through everything his daughter did and did not do for the day she was in power. To say he was impressed was an understatement, already funds were being drained from the Company coffers to repair the horrific damage done to Vale City. Weiss had gone through his long term plans for the company and had changed them for the better, now the breaking in to Eastern markets would take much less time. How had he not ever thought of that?

"As impressive as your performance has been for the one day you were in power, we need to discuss your relationship with your team leader." That seemed to spring her from her trance; Weiss finally met the icy gaze of her father with her own, though it seemed to be a half-hearted effort.

"What could possibly be the problem? Didn't you already approve?"

"I approve of you dating whichever sex you prefer, what I do not approve of is the person you are currently dating. I'm sure I need not tell you why. However we all have to give some ground, so I'm not going to stop you from dating her...yet."

"What do you mean 'yet'?! I thought you were going to leave us be!" There was the Weiss he knew, cold tone and defensive posture. Good, that timid Weiss was starting to sicken him.

"I had every intention of intervening later on if this relationship persisted, however that argument I walked in on enlightened me." His voice turned frigid as he continued. "You cannot allow personal feelings get in the way of your better judgment, if having Ruby disappointed in your choices will dissuade you from taking the correct course of action then this cannot continue after graduation. As planned you will be a huntress for five years before being recalled and put in a position of power here at the company. If you cannot be trusted to do what is best for the Company then Ruby, or any other partner you may find, will have to go."

Augustus sometimes really hated his job, being forced to drive wedge after wedge between himself and his daughter just to keep the family strong and company profitable. He had a responsibility to his family, this was his burden to bear, this was what he had accepted. The price for power was often ones humanity and happiness.

"How can you say such things?" Her wide unbelieving eyes almost made him reconsider, but it was too late for that now. "Why do you insist on taking away all my happiness? Why must you treat me like a puppet? I thought I was beginning to understand, I actually thought you may care about my happiness, but I can see I was wrong." It seemed she was resigned to finally accept his apparent feelings...that broke his heart on many levels. Hadn't he swore to not let this happen again? No...he had swore to help Weiss, even if she resented him for it. This was for her own good, surely she would understand one day.

"I'm not trying to steal away your happiness Weiss, I do care for yo-"

"Then start acting like it!" The sudden shout surprised both of them, but not enough to stop Weiss. "All you've ever cared about was this Company, the family name, the reputation, and the prestige. Don't lecture me about not understanding, I known damn well how it feels to care for someone you shouldn't. Do you think it was easy to finally accept my feelings for Ruby? Do you think it was easy becoming close friends with Blake? Do you think it was easy to sit in that chair and refuse the desperate cries of one of my best friends?"

The normally composed Weiss Schnee was crumbling, her breathing was heavy and her fists were clenched. Normally cold eyes had the embers of hate and resentment building into a fire. Augustus Schnee, her father, was unable to form any words to defend himself, but he didn't need to. Weiss was far from through with him.

"Yet you still sit there, daring to talk down to me on how I must remain objective. Forever remain emotionless and the tool of a cruel family who cares for nothing but money and reputation! I will not become the puppet you wish me to be! I will take over this company, I will become the new family head and Schnee Dust president, but I will not be like _you_." Every word spoken stabbed his heart, they were hate filled words and they were directed right at him. He would no longer be able to hide from the wrath of his daughter, he would no longer be able to see things from a distance. This was personal, this was forcing him to reevaluate what it meant to be both a father and Company president. Surely Weiss was just lashing out, she didn't really mean this!

"You may leave now Weiss." Even though he wanted to ask if she meant it, her eyes said it all. She really did hate him, resent him, she didn't even respect him anymore. In her eyes he was nothing, nothing but a bitter man who was trying to take away what made her feel happy. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but he just couldn't trust his voice any longer, already his facade of apathy was crumbling.

"I...I will only contact you when needed, Beacon still has the full support of Schnee Dust, however another representative will visit to discuss future ventures. That is all, now please leave." He hated how weak his voice was. The strong, cold, confident, prideful and manipulative Augustus Schnee was turned into a barely contained emotional mess by a few harsh words from his daughter. Was this what Weiss felt like? Was this what she felt every time he chided her, corrected her, and reminded her of the future responsibility and burden she would carry? No matter what he thought it was obvious Weiss wanted him out of her life, so that was what he would do. Of course she would still be treated like the heiress of the company, however he would no longer be directly doing anything with her, especially face to face.

Without even giving a response his daughter pivoted on her heel and swiftly left the room. Giving a shaky sigh Augustus buried his face in his hands. This job was slowly tearing him apart. On one side was his daughter, Weiss, whom he wanted to help and shelter so much. On the other was the family that raised him, sheltered him, made him who he was today, and his obligation to do the best he could for them.

_'A Schnee does not cry Weiss...'_

_'Chin up! Do not waver even when you doubt yourself! A Schnee will always find a way!'_

_'If you are to be my daughter, then you will be the best at everything you do. Nobody is your equal.'_

_'Be proud of that crest you wear Weiss, this family is the best of the best, one day you will have to run that family. I hope you are ready for it.'_

The memories of him being more drill sergeant than father or friend flooded his mind. How had he been so blind? Had the death of his wife truly turned him into such a cold hearted bastard? It was too late to take those words back, to right his wrongs, a simple apology and hug was not going to solve this. Weiss hated him, resented him and his way of supporting her. It was a twisted way of doing so, but it was support none the less. For a man who prided himself with his intellect, he was acting like an idiot. For years he had thought the mind of an adolescent would be able to understand the complexities of the decisions he wrestled with every day and realize that he was just trying to help, for years he had been wrong.

Numbly moving to pick up his scroll, Augustus attempted to bury his crippled emotional state and broken heart in paperwork and petty deal approval. He also had to get the information to Blake, but that could wait until later, he didn't want to be reminded of Weiss right now. Though even without any reminders his mind refused to forget the hatred that burned in those familiar icy orbs, that image would forever be seared into his memory. The day was only beginning, yet he couldn't get a single thing done...

After pressing one of the many buttons under his desk the familiar face and ears of his assistant came into view. Waving her in Augustus realized that for all the years they had worked together he didn't know anything about her, he didn't even know her first name or why her daughter was training to become a huntress.

"Please, take a seat Miss. Scarlatina." It was nice to be in control of the situation again, he didn't need to worry about this faunus being mad at him or screaming at him in emotional anguish.

"O-Of course sir. May I ask why?" There was that accent again, just where was that from? In all his travels he had never heard anything like it.

"Just a small talk is all" even with his more casual tone and assurances she retained a rigid posture and blank face. "you're not in trouble, please try to relax..." The only sign she was even listening was the slight slack in her posture. "What's your first name?"

"Pardon?"

"Your first name, what is it? I've worked with you for years yet I don't know your first name, it annoys me."

"Burgundy sir, Burgundy is my first name."

"So you come from a family of hunters then? They are the only people I know who use colors for names." That was something he had suspected of due to her daughter's name, but having it confirmed was nice.

"Y-yes. I used to be a huntress myself, though an injury forced me to retire early and take up secretarial work. I have to support my daughter's education one way or another, Beacon isn't cheap as I'm sure you know..." She had to pay for Beacon as well? Was her ex-husband wealthy?

"Ah. So that must be why Velvet wants to be a huntress. I assume your ex-husband is wealthy then? Is he paying any support?"

"Well...he is what most would consider wealthy, but nothing compared to someone like you. Unfortunately his lawyers are stalling as long as possible and will likely end up just paying a token support fee for Velvet. It's sad seeing what he's become, he used to be a good man, and now all he cares for is money." The sudden sadness was almost too much; the parallel between the two situations was rather off-putting. He didn't just care for money but...that was what Weiss thought.

"That is most unfortunate indeed; I'm sure our legal department will enjoy having a challenge. So how is Velvet now that she's had time to process what happened at Beacon? Weiss and her team seem to have recovered quickly." This was nice, when was the last time he had simply talked to someone? He couldn't remember.

"Ah. That's nice of you sir…are you sure the company can take over the case? I know it's asking a lot. Velvet is doing well enough, she's relied heavily on her team since they are so close but all the new students appear to have avoided any mental trauma. They were very fortunate to have avoided a single casualty."

"I'm quite sure that we can take care of this little dispute, its nothing really." Hopefully his dismissive tone would get her to lay off the topic, he would have to pull a few strings to get their lawyers to take the case. "That's good to hear, I would hate for someone with such a bright future to be brought down by some traumatic experience. I saw her and her team training; she is very skilled with her weapons, though she could make use of a stronger spine."

"T-That she could, yes, we were trying to work on that at home until her father became what he is today. This break-up is really hampering with her time at Beacon, though from what I've heard Weiss and her girlfriend have been very supportive of her." Burgundy seemed to realize her mistake a moment too late, at the simple mention of his daughter Augustus began to collapse back into himself and his usual icy mask and gaze took over his face once more.

"It's good to know Weiss is spending her time at Beacon well, thank you." Already his deep, monotone business voice had reasserted itself and finally got to what he had originally called her in here for. "I'm going to need you to take over for the rest of the day, my recent injury is preventing me from focusing as needed. You've done this before, so I hope I won't need to explain what you need to do?" His eyes now a sheet of ice Augustus was now back to his usual self, all business all the time.

"Of course Mr. Schnee, it will be done." Burgundy too eased her way back into her business facade, once open and inviting pools of brown now froze over and revealed nothing. The only sign of her disappointment was the small dip in her ears, Augustus ignored it.

"Thank you, I will be in my quarters resting. Do not disturb me unless it's an emergency." Without waiting for a response Augusts swiftly got up from his chair and made his way into his quarters. Before closing the door he heard his assistant heave a world weary sigh, like all things that evoked an emotional response he ignored it as best he could. Burgundy was one of the few people on this planet that he trusted and cared for, it hurt to know he had disappointed her too. Taking off his outfit Augustus crawled into his bed and pulled the blankets over his barely clothed body, how could two simple conversations drain him so much?

In the minutes of consciousness he had left Augustus thought back to what had triggered his world to crash down around him, caused his daughter to lose respect for him, and caused his nights to be spent in a restless slumber. It had all started once that damnable girl Ruby had drifted into his and Weiss's life. She was to blame for all of this, for his daughter turning against him, for the splintering of his family, for the heartache the past months have given him. Eyelids closing, Augustus Schnee had one final thought before falling into a deep sleep, he hated Ruby Rose, hated that she breathed, hated that she was born. Ruby Rose was the one that had warmed his daughter's heart, but in the process had broken his own, for that he would never forgive her.

**AN: Updates will be a wee bit slower, I'm going to start writing ahead and releasing the chapters on a 3-5 day schedule. Up until now everything has been stored in my head but with all this stuff I can't keep track very well, so slower updates and a release 'schedule' is all I have to inform you of today, cya next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

A Different Perspective

Augustus awoke to find himself in his dark, silent, and empty room. Not a flicker of warmth could be found in his office bedroom, it wasn't meant to have any. This was no haven, no place to relax, no place to think and not the place to feel. This room was designed to desensitize him, numb him, slowly kill him in a way...it was truly depressing. Finding blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt Augustus left his room without a sound, he found his office just as empty and cold as his room. The only people here were the few security guards that patrolled the hallways, the rest were long gone. It was times like these that he truly wished to have a window to the outside world, he had decided against it when designing plans for his office. Glass was too easy to break, too easy to shoot through, see through, it wasn't secretive enough.

Finding his slippers in one of his drawers in his desk Augustus made his way to the rooftop via the stairwell. Like the rest of the building it was sleek, elegant, almost showy and was decorated in the Schnee crest colors. White walls and blue lines, the colors that usually brought him comfort did little to calm his chaotic mind. There was so much to think about, so much to consider, so much to regret. Opening the cold metal door to the roof, Augustus breathed in the crisp night air as the wind assaulted his figure. With a thud the door closed and he was left to stand on the roof of Schnee Dust Headquarters with only his thoughts as company.

Looking at the shattered silver moon Augustus was suddenly reminded of a red-haired huntress and the problem she had become. What should he do? What could he do? His only daughter and sole heir was smitten with the youngster and her childish attitude and antics, to harm Ruby was to harm Weiss. At the same time he simply couldn't find it in himself to forgive the things Ruby had done to both himself and Weiss. For the first time in Schnee history the validity of the heir was being called into question, at every meeting with fellow Schnees he was forced to viciously defend his daughter and her choices while trying to ignore the obvious disdain the two had for him.

It was not easy to hold the fate of thousands in your hands as you signed your name on a deal, or allowed the hiring or firing of employees. It was not easy to look over the 330,000 names that were on the casualty list with apathy and approve of reimbursement to the families of the fallen. Those deaths were all on his hands, the deaths of the faunus in the mines, those killed by his police force, those who died on the streets alone, cold, hungry, and sick. All of it was on his hands, his shoulders, his soul, if there was an afterlife he would go to the pits of it to forever suffer for what he had done. For all the lives his medical research saved, others were killed in his name or for his sake. For all the children whose lives were saved from starvation by advances in agriculture that he had funded, others were maimed or killed by the weapons he developed and produced. The Schnee Dynasty was built on the corpses of countless millions as their suffering, their misfortune, funded his own expansion and wallet. Ones suffering was another's profit, the Schnee family was the embodiment of that philosophy.

Even now, as he wrestled with himself on how to move forward, how to get past yet another dilemma, a family was suffering without dust powered heating and freezing to death due to his need to increase profitability. Another family struggled to buy the food they needed to survive as he ordered them to be underpaid, yet another was wasting away in an alleyway without medicine for an easily treatable and curable disease simply because he did not offer them health benefits. This was the business world, if one did not remove himself from his actions he was destined to go insane, only the unfeeling could adequately cope with the decisions they were forced to make in this world. The intelligent prospered as the dumb struggled, did genetic superiority and family upbringing truly justify the growing disparity between rich and poor? Were they not all just people at the end of the day? Augustus did not have an answer to this question.

Looking out into the endless black expanse of the heavens, Augustus found that he only had two reasons for living, without these things he would have taken his life long ago. The survival of Weiss, his only child, on the day his wife was brutally murdered in front of him kept him from joining Penelope in the cold embrace of death that day and the following years. The prosperity of his family and company gave him a purpose to wake up, to work, to think, to move. Without it he would have no reason to do anything, to move on day-by-day, to allow his heart to beat and mind to think.

When being forced to choose between the one that kept your heart beating and the thing that made that heartbeat meaningful, what does one choose? Is there a right choice? Is there a wrong one? Could one even choose to begin with? For all the searching his eyes did when they looked into the expanse Augustus found nothing, he found no comfort, no answers, no sudden feeling of inspiration, only crushing guilt and despair as the full weight of his decisions caught up to him. Ruby was not to blame for Weiss's behavior, he was. Ruby was not to blame for Weiss's hatred of him, he was. The suffering his company imposed on the faunus and minority employees was not because society did not care enough, or that people did not care enough, it was because he did not care enough. The world was a cruel place, he was only making is crueler. The Vale Kingdom was a cold, callous place, he had only made it all the more colder and unbearable.

He could no longer deny what had always been right in front of him, he could no longer pull the wool over his own eyes and reject what he saw. Even so, he could not, would not change himself. For all the suffering he caused he created just as much prosperity and happiness. Without him over one million people would be dead, without him the people of Vale would not enjoy the quality of life that they did, without the Schnee Dynasty humanity would not be as advanced as they were today. Advancement came at a cost, it looked as though he had finally found that cost.

All of this philosophy did not help his broken emotional state, but it did give him a kind of cathartic release. Thinking had always been his way of coping when his emotions got the better of him. Weiss hated him, did not want him in her life, wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Was there anything he could do? Should he do anything? If Weiss thought this was best...then he was going to have to show her it wasn't, that he could be a part of her life, that he could show emotion, that he really did care. His obligations to the company got in the way of anything he could do though, Ruby was not the mate Weiss needed to run Schnee Dust, but how was his wife any different? She was from questionable background but wielded power, so he was allowed to marry her. Surely she would have supported Weiss, so why couldn't he?

The problem was that Ruby wasn't just bad for the company, he believed her to be bad for Weiss. That disobedient, childish, impulsive, naive girl was going to reverse all the work he and Weiss had done over the years. All the studying, training, heartache, time, effort, and blood both dedicated to Weiss's education would flounder if she was allowed to associate with such ruffians. His heart was cold, but it was far from frozen over. Every time he missed an event, forgot to say hello or goodbye, chided Weiss for not being good enough, and simply not being there for his daughter pulled at his heart strings. Even so, he was not supposed to allow sentiment to prevent him from making such decisions, he had told Weiss this, but by gods it got harder and harder every day to detach himself from the happenings of the world around him and the emotions that came with them.

Perhaps if he gave Ruby one more chance to prove herself he would change his mind, or at least learn to accept the union between her and Weiss. A family event was coming up, he and Weiss both had to be there...why not invite Ruby? It would end in disaster, Ruby was far from being able to act like an adult, let alone a Schnee adult, however it would show Weiss that he was trying. He was giving Ruby a chance she certainly had not earned, hopefully Weiss would recognize the favor that it was. Even if Weiss did see it as he hoped, how would that fix anything? He still couldn't be there at the end of the day to say goodnight, still could not wake her from her bed in the mornings, could not be there for her when disaster struck, could not even talk to her...the list just went on and on. He was a horrible father, friend, family member; he was too busy sitting in a miserable office that offered no comfort once his mind wondered.

It wasn't that he hated his job, far from it. He loved outsmarting opponents, he loved the overseeing, the planning, organization, manipulation, and prosperity that came with his job. It just wasn't as fulfilling when he had to take away Weiss's happiness in order to do his job, Augustus wanted to show that he would show no favoritism, that he could do his job correctly. This came at the price of the small connection he used to have with his daughter, they used to be able to respect one-another, now he hardly talked to her and she barely tolerated him.

What had he done to cause such resentment to build? All he could think of was that he could be less than personable, of course he was going to drill her mind and body into the ground with study and training. That was how Schnees were raised, you were to be the best of the best, only a Schnee was allowed to top another Schnee. He had given her everything she wanted, toys, tutoring, combat training, wardrobe; he had even offered surgery to remove that scar of hers she hated so. This was the only time he had really tried to prevent her from doing anything; perhaps she was spoiled? Weiss had never been told no before when it came to something she wanted.

Pulling his scroll from his pocket Augustus pulled it open and looked over what Burgundy had done and left for him to look over. As his assistant she was allowed to sign his name for small things, things like deals and the like, they made up most of his workload due to his own insistence on looking over everything. Outside of his own her scroll was the most secure in the Vale Kingdom, only he had the codes needed to access the backdoor into her scroll while his own had none. Having the most advanced technology in the world had its perks.

Even when trying to sort out his own personal life it seemed work always found a way in. He needed to get Blake that information he promised, he also needed to send that invitation to Ruby; hopefully she wouldn't just delete the message. Finding and sending the files himself Augustus allowed himself to feel some pride in his knowledge on how technology worked, most people his age couldn't grasp the concept let alone the device. Seeing Ruby's address in the file he had set up for her, Augustus paused to try and think of how to properly invite the young huntress. Would trying to be casual come off as confrontational? Copying and pasting the generic invitation bullshit Augustus once more searched through his files and put it in the message, this would have all the information Ruby would need to know about the event. Before he could type down anything he would later regret he sent the message and made his way to the edge of the rooftop before sitting on the ledge and allowing his legs to dangle off the colossal building.

He had never taken time out of his day to simply look at the world around him, to try and see the beauty in the simple rather than the complex. Seeing the lights of the city below him Augustus could finally see just what he had been missing out on as he read over propositions, scheduled out his day, kept his nose buried in his scroll as they passed over city after city in his personal craft. From the ant-like people that littered the streets to the massive airships that slowly made their way across the night sky, it was all so fascinating to him. What were the people thinking? Did they too have to struggle day after day? Perhaps they had a family to feed, a parent to appease, a new car or home to buy, did the trials of everyday life compare to his wealthy and noble lifestyle?

Tearing his gaze from the lights of the city ice blue eyes once more searched the fractured moon for answers to his questions. Why did he have so many questions? Why was he so calm, so relaxed? The tension that filled his body even as he slept ebbed away as he sat on the edge of his concrete home. For the first time in possibly years his shoulders slumped, but not out of shame, sadness, or misplaced pity; they slumped because he let them, there was no other reason, no ulterior motive. Out here everything was so simple yet so complex, it made sense but at the same time baffled him. Life wasn't endless drama, it wasn't the adrenaline filled action scene movies and games made it to be, it wasn't hardship after hardship, test after test. Life was the simple action of living day by day, night by night; it was the simple conversation you had with your friends about some girl or boy they met, maybe they were the one? Paying taxes, driving to school, walking to work, the endless repeatable motions of everyday life were what made it so unique, so beautiful. It was more delicate than the glass figures that littered his office; life was so easily snatched away. A single accident could end the life of one's best friend, ones lover, lifetime partner, or the stranger that lived down the street.

How could something so repeatable, so unextraordinary, so mundane, so fragile also be the very thing that was the most beautiful to watch unfold? A lake could have objective beauty, but the tears and smiles of people could only ever be appreciated once, the next day they may be gone. The smile he had come to love, depend on, count on being there every day for the rest of his days was ripped from him in the most brutal fashion. Rain had its own beauty, but the tears that fell from a man or woman's eyes as they grieved the loss of a loved one or celebrated a glorious victory were the only drops of water that could move people to action. People made up this world, not numbers; people ran this world, not money. Humanity may be miserable, self-destructive, cruel, warlike, brutal, lustful, disloyal; but without humanity there would be no hope, no love, peace, or happiness. Perhaps he was just being sentimental.

For all his intelligence Augustus could not understand what drove the common man to keep living, their lives were always so predetermined, so mundane and unattractive. He worked with people for his entire life and still had not found an answer to that question; looking out over the city his family practically built themselves he still did not have his answer, but perhaps he was beginning to understand. Understand that one did not need money to live a happy life, need power to feel safe and secure, need to be famous and respected by all those around you to feel important...no, he certainly could not accept just why people could live like they did when his life was much better than theirs; he could however begin to understand. Stopping his inner monologue, Augustus simply watched for an unknown amount of time before getting up and leaving to sleep in his room here inside the building. For the first time he would go to sleep with a smile on his face and for the first time Augustus was going to listen to his heart, consequences be damned.

**AN: This chapter was...unexpected. I don't even know what to say, Augustus takes over the keyboard too often anymore. I didn't have the heart to delete what he painstakingly wrote for you guys, so hopefully you enjoyed this little philosophy lesson. This is a very short chapter(3,000 words) but this marks a very significant turning point, I couldn't just skip ahead to the morning, would have killed the flow in my opinion. Reviews are appreciated. **


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: I require feedback to improve my writing ability. Please take a small minute out of your day to review, thank you. **

A Different Perspective

It had taken him all night and most of the morning to make, but now he could finally implement what he had wanted to do for some time now. Burgundy had popped her head in to see if he was awake some time ago, she seemed discontented with how hard he was working but he had simply waved her away. Though he did pause after that to make sure the legal department was going to be taking over her civil case, he still did not know the name of his assistant's ex and he intended to keep it that way. Otherwise he may do some very rash things, underhandedly stealing all his assets being one of them. It would have been legal, of course, just questionable.

He had spent all this time trying to write up a policy that would correct the equality problem within the company without dividing the family. He may have had a paradigm shift when it came to how he felt about people, but that didn't mean he was willing to splinter the already fractured family ever further. That marriage policy change was still a very sore spot among the older generations and overly greedy; he himself didn't like that change but he had done it for Weiss, so that balanced it out in the end. This twenty page bill he was reading over now was going to give faunus health coverage and access to legal department resources. This was the easy part; there was already a push for these things due to good workers having to stop working because of sickness or simple legal problems. Faunus were still hated after-all, whenever a crime occurred that involved vandalism or thievery they became the scape goats, so backing Schnee faunus employees would discourage authorities from trying to imprison them. The healthcare aspect was pure business, with more people needing medicine and hospital care and being able to afford it the demand for Schnee medical products and pharmaceuticals was going to go up.

The real problem was the pay and 'rights' aspect of the planned changes. Unlike the last few reforms these two were going to be gradual, they were going to have to be. The plan was to set monthly quotas for faunus workers to meet, they would not know of the quotas as to ensure it was honest work, but if they met these quotas then the pay gap would close by a simple percent. After three months of meeting the quota they would be given a 'right' that humans had within the company; this was all based on sector production so faunus workers all over the world were going to have very different pays and privilege.

This would also give the illusion that the sector managers still had control of the situation; they were going to be allowed to set the quotas and choose the privileges the faunus were to get. To avoid ludicrous quota numbers he had included the infamous 'reasonable' clause; basically they were legally required to have a 'reasonable' number otherwise they would be removed. Only the most racist or stupid would try and set ridiculous quota numbers. Darwinism was alive and well in Schnee Dust.

Heaving an exhausted sigh, Augustus finally got around to looking at what he needed to do today. He knew he had no meetings planned so he chose to wear his usual casual clothing; sweatpants were just too comfortable to give up. He had far too many little things he needed to do, the leftover work Burgundy could not read or sign would take up to four more precious hours of his day. She had worked well with the time she was given; even working a bit past her set time to leave, but the pile of work he had to do was still mildly suffocating. The little things were what made his company so efficient; there was a right way to go about micromanagement.

You couldn't just waltz into a situation at a local Schnee Dust store and make the right calls; you didn't have to information or context needed to make the best decision. To correctly micromanage Augustus adopted a more hands off method; he would only need to approve of transactions that dealt with transferring over one million dollars or overseas deals. The rest was left to the discretion of local hierarchy that was firmly established and respecting in the company. Everyone in his company knew their place.

With recent gains in other Kingdoms his workload was increasing at an alarming rate, he may soon be forced to rethink the overseas part of his strategy. To read a deal in depth he only needed a few minutes, however he needed much more time to make sure that said deal worked into future ventures the company had planned. Conflict of interest was a very real and very big problem for his mega-company. Augustus and Schnee Dust invested billions into upstart companies and established ones in almost every industry, having Schnees holding a majority stake in a company or organization basically made it a puppet of Schnee Dust. As long as money continued to flow into their bank accounts the family would listen to him. So ensuring that they were not investing in possible competitors or causing conflict with future plans of a region was his main reason for being so hands on when it came to trade and investment deals. Only he had all the information available to him so only he was able to make the correct choice.

He still had one thing left to do though before he went and overworked his mind and hand; with the press of a button his twenty page policy was sent through the electronic infrastructure of Schnee Dust. First it was to go to the legal department, once approved or modified to be legal it was to go the Schnee lobbyists and PR agents so they could look over the new policy. Once everyone was on the same page it was then sent to family members, finally the bill was then sent to the parties that needed to be informed of the change. A local store owner didn't need to get this information, only his boss did. From there management would ensure the policy was implemented and enforced in a timely manner while making the policy changes public. PR agents would immediately get to work doing damage control or promoting the company so more people would buy their products due to how 'moral' and 'nice' they were. It was beautiful to watch unfold, all the organization that went into this was quite amazing and worth every dollar he had spent to ensure it was all sent through cyberspace. Paper delivery was much slower and even less secure. He personally sent it to Burgundy's scroll before pulling up the first of thousands of things that needed signed, it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Sometimes Augustus really did question why he had to attend these petty family events; they just did not serve any purpose! It was just a simple formality so different branches of the dynasty could compare themselves to each other and have petty competition. It was so childish; sometimes he wondered if they really were any better than people like Ruby, this seemed like something she would do. The only reason he really did go was because it gave him an excuse to use his luxury Harrier, it was likely the best thing he owned and he loved riding in it. With the inside looking like a hotel suite and feeling like one the sensation of flying and resting on the finest of silks was something he just could not get enough of. The white furniture and blue painted walls kept with the Schnee theme of all vehicles they owned, the craft was actually much bigger than the usual harrier. This was due to its cargo compartment being twice as large as to comfortably accommodate the two couches, glass table, and two other recliners that made up his little home away from home. It was only ever used to house him if he went overseas, so the small bathroom in the corner had running water, or to transport him to family events. This was just one big dick measuring contest after-all.

It had been two weeks since he made the policy change and sent Ruby his invitation. It had taken the brute up until yesterday to finally respond with a simple 'I'll be there'; did the girl know nothing about manners? Weiss hadn't contacted him at all, though that was to be expected. He still hadn't decided on just how he was going to become a supportive and proper father; he didn't know where to start! He fathered Weiss just like his parents raised him, so this whole 'supportive' and 'caring' thing was new to him. He was actually on route to Beacon to pick the duo up, he had to leave much earlier than usual but it was a small sacrifice to finally see Weiss again. She didn't even have to talk to him; he just wanted to see her face again.

The feeling of decent informed him that they had finally arrived. Straitening his white suit and fixing his blue tie Augustus stood up and waited on the white rug that ran the expanse of the room. It was simple courtesy to stand and wait for your gusts to enter before sitting again, he may not like Ruby at all, he still outright hated her, but that did not mean he could not be civil.

Hearing the side door open, Augustus steel himself before turning his head to see his daughter and her charge enter his not so humble abode. In first was Ruby Rose, Augustus had to refrain from showing his surprise when he saw what she was wearing; he had expected her to wear he normal combat attire, how wrong he had been. For being fifteen Ruby sure could look mature if she wanted to apparently; she was wearing a one-piece dress that went right down to her ankles. The dress itself was red, as expected from someone named Ruby, but the quality of the fabric and richness of the color showed him that Weiss had obvious bought this. Continuing his appraisal Augustus was greeted with the sight of Ruby's still developing chest, it wasn't overly revealing or tasteless, the dress just dipped enough in that one could make out the beginnings of said breasts. As Ruby turned Augustus saw that the straps that held the dress together and showed off a generous amount of shoulder were just a precursor to the amount of skin that was shown off in the back. The straps attached themselves to a thin piece of cloth that ran along her upper back but an oval shaped opening showcased her pale back and spine, her sides were hidden from view as the dress hugged around them and the rest of her figure. He was impressed.

However as Ruby helped Weiss in and this time he couldn't contain his shock, his eyes widened and he felt his mouth open as Weiss stepped onto his aircraft. The first thing he noticed were the white gloves that ran up to her elbows, a subtle show of superiority, but what took his breath away was the dress she was wearing. It was almost exactly like Ruby's, however hers shimmered in the light as the built-in sparkles subtlety shined as the artificial lighting reflected off of them. The light blue color was to be expected, but the way it complimented her normal hair style and eyes was not. He had seen Weiss dress up before but it seemed like this was the first time he had actually _seen _her, had he always been so oblivious to his surroundings?

Finding his voice Augustus greeted the two before motioning for them to sit across from him.

"You look just like your mother Weiss..." It seemed his initial shock had yet to wear off, though the subtle smile that graced his daughters lips made his slip-up worth it. Clearing his throat he addressed Ruby as the three sat down and the craft took flight. "I assume Weiss has gone over the proper etiquette for this event?" Leaning back and crossing his arms Augustus assumed his usual confrontational stance, there was just something about Ruby that rubbed him the wrong way, even if she had not done anything yet.

Silver met ice blue as two unbreakable wills battled for dominance. Eventually Ruby responded after Weiss poked her in the ribs, while her voice was calm it was easy to tell she was anything but that.

"Why of course, I am able to act _civilized _as you people put it."

"Good, we cannot afford any foolishness on your end Miss. Rose. This may very well be your last chance."

"My last chance to prove what? That I am worthy of the high and mighty Schnee name?" The disdain and lack of respect infuriated him, however he had promised himself to try for Weiss's sake.

"No, to prove that you are capable of being Weiss's long term partner. Not everything is as it seems Miss. Rose, you would be wise to remember that I am not your enemy."

"Then why do you alwy-" Weiss's hand clamped over Ruby's mouth, preventing her from finishing whatever she was going to say. Almost awkwardly the eyes of father and daughter met and silently tried to communicate what could not be said. It seemed Weiss appreciated his efforts.

"Before anything we will later regret is said" The sharp voice of Weiss cut through the tension filled silence. "I think we need to inform Ruby of what exactly she's going to need to do...I would have, but I am not involved in family politics."

Tilting his head to the side Augustus almost considered letting the two teens figure it out on their own. That would have been cruel though.

"These family events are meant for family branches to compare themselves to each other. All you have to do is make a good impression...hopefully you can manage that. If not then we are all going to have many headaches in the near and far future."

Ruby seemed confused by this, what was so hard to comprehend? "I thought you were the head of everything, that you made the rules? What's it matter what these people think?" Even Weiss seemed inclined to agree with that sentiment, though it was likely out of pure spite and disdain for her family.

Augustus was at a crossroads; he had never told Weiss about the not so silent debate that was going on behind closed doors about the inheritance problem. Insemination would work perfectly well; the real concern was that Weiss would be the precursor to a decline in the company. With her disregarding the traditions, values, and rules that made the family what it was today those who wanted her disinherited had quite the case. He was the only person stopping this from happening; he had a few powerful friends but they couldn't be bothered with the whole 'family drama', as they put it.

"I never told you this, Weiss, but...powerful people within the family are trying to disinherit you. Due to your deviance from conventional Schnee tradition and values most are inclined to agree. The only thing stopping them has been my lack of a signature. There was a good reason as to why I had wanted this relationship to be a _secret _but the rash actions of your partner ruined that plan."

Not once did his frigid glare leave Ruby's face as the two digested the new information. Glancing at Weiss he could tell she was barely restraining her anger, at what he did not know, but Ruby had the decency to look a tad bit ashamed. Good, that little stunt she pulled may very-well cost Weiss her inheritance.

"How can they do that?" The very subdued voice of Ruby crossed the distance and made Augustus feel a pang of sympathy. That quickly evaporated once he remembered that this entire thing was her fault.

"Yes, father, how can they do that? I thought you were the family head?" Hopefully this was a precursor of things to come, he wouldn't be able to bear not being able to directly talk to Weiss should she decide he wasn't worth the effort after tonight.

"As powerful as the family head is, there are ways around his or her authority. They were made to ensure that a family head could not simply do as he pleased with impunity. If the family and business councils both unanimously pass an order then I am going to have to obey that order."

Uncrossing his arms and leaning forward, Augustus pushed aside his personal feelings and continued. "The family council has a representative from each branch family, so twenty total. I'm telling you this so you and Ruby can target the reps and hopefully gain their favor. If you can't I will be forced to rely on my less than reliable business friends."

Finally moving his less than accommodating gaze on Ruby, what he had to say next was exclusively for her. "This is far from some silly family get-together. I hope you're ready to face these ambitious and rather cold people, they will stop at nothing to ensure their futures are secure."

Leaning back on his couch, Augustus tuned out the not too silent whispers the couple was exchanging. He hadn't told them who the people they needed to impress were; he did that for a reason. This would ensure constant good behavior from the both of them, Ruby more so than Weiss. Closing his eyes he took deep calming breaths as he prepared himself for hours of fake smiles and friendly disposition. He did not harbor any ill will towards anyone in his family but he rarely felt happy or friendly anymore.

Feeling the aircraft decent once more, Augustus opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the two kissing. An unusual feeling settled in his stomach before he repressed it; it wasn't jealousy or anger, Weiss could kiss whomever she wanted, it was a bitterness that he couldn't shake. Knowing that dwelling on it would only complicate things; Augustus stood with a false smile plastered on his face and outstretched his hand to help his daughter up.

"Shall we?" His tone was much lighter, less deep and commanding, but also less genuine. Weiss didn't seem to notice or care, simply taking his hand and rising in a very noble fashion. He didn't even try to help Ruby up, quite frankly he didn't care if she tripped and face planted on the pavement right outside his personal craft.

Hearing the metal side door open Augustus led Weiss by the hand and stepped down onto the concrete walkway that lead to the estate. Holding her hand as she descended, he was about to let Ruby struggle to get out before Weiss's elbow caught him in the side. With a discontented grunt he unceremoniously lifted the small girl, not even acknowledging the squeak she gave out, and placed her on the ground. Not waiting for the two to get their bearings Augustus quickly made his way down the lightly lit path.

They always held these events at the official family estate; it was quite beautiful. It was designed to look like the plantations of old, so columns and white were a must. Both were aesthetically pleasing but nothing could beat the gardens that littered the property. From exotic to plain plants of every type and kind made a beautiful mix of color and green. As he made his way up the white marble steps Augustus paused as he heard two sets of clacking that were not his own. Turning his head to look behind him Augustus was once more impressed with the huntress in training. Her posture and walk were nearly flawless, was this the same Ruby Rose he had met at Beacon? He preferred this one over the other if she had a twin.

Pulling up his facade once more Augustus smiled as he walked through the large wooden doors and into the Victorian era room that was chosen to be the social hub for the evening. With a large staircase that branched off making up the center of the large room he had no more time to admire the ancient architecture; already he could see not so familiar faces moving to greet him. Hearing the door open and close behind him reminded him that this was not about him though. Plastering the most sickeningly sweet smile on his face Augustus shielded the couple to the best of his ability.

"It's good to finally meet you!" Shaking the hands of many he did not know Augustus could already feel himself getting agitated.

"Ah! How nice that we finally see each other face to face! How are things?"

Tuning out the likely practiced response he moved onto yet another pair of blue eyes. Everyone was dressed in high-society attire, with white and blue being the main theme. The family was becoming more and more…international and the only thing that remained exclusively Schnee were the eyes. Every Schnee had the trademark blue or ice white color; many bastards were found this way. Feeling himself getting swept away by his kinsmen Augustus risked a glance at Weiss and found the pair still inseparable, even as the members of the family descended upon them. Allowing himself to let go Augustus went into full 'social' mode and made his way from person to person, greeting each as pleasantly as the last. Tonight was indeed going to be a long night.

* * *

After all the formalities were through Augustus was finally given some room to breathe. Everyone wanted to be in his favor even though most were trying to destroy his legacy, the obvious dishonesty of it all really irked him. With some of the finest wine currently in his glass he really couldn't find the effort to care about the deception. What he did find was that Ruby and Weiss had been successfully separated, how this came to be he did not know, but he was getting some amusement out of watching Ruby fidget in obvious discomfort as Schnee after Schnee tried to make acquaintance.

"Getting your kicks by torturing small children Augustus? How the mighty have fallen."

Swiveling his head to face the deep and amused voice Augustus met the eyes of one of his best friends. More past friends than anything, after his wife died he never really got back to socializing with anyone.

"Jeremy, you're probably one of the few people here I can actually stand. Don't make me rethink that." A small, but very genuine smile formed on his face as he shook his friend's hand. He really had missed this man. They had grown up together and used to be brothers, however losses on both sides of their family stifled their brotherhood.

"I hear young Weiss has found quite the partner. I see you're putting her through the ringer." The usual mirth Augustus remembered in Jeremy's voice was still there, it was almost like he hadn't changed at all.

"The girl deserves it after all the grief she's put me through." Pausing to cherish the fine wine he held, Augustus picked up a glass from the table he was leaning on and offered it to Jeremy. With a growing smile Jeremy took the offered drink and took his own sip.

"Do tell how such a sweet and innocent soul has caused your own such heartache. I'm dying to know how _the _Augustus Schnee was grieved by a simple fifteen year old." He was still his sarcastic self, though it was not entirely appreciated.

"For one that little publicity stunt she pulled has the entire family on a crusade. Then there's how rash, childish, immature, impulsive and unbearable she is. The girl isn't good for Weiss, but we all cannot get our way." He needed to get some of this stuff for his office, it was quite good.

"Come now, you can't really begrudge the poor girl for showing affection for the one she loves. If I remember correctly a certain someone was just like Ruby when you first met them…"

"You know you shouldn't mention her, Jeremy. Times have changed, as have I, and not necessarily for the better."

"Don't be so dramatic." With a wave of his hand Jeremy dismissed Augustus's melodramatic tendencies. "You and I both know this is because you don't think Ruby is good enough for Weiss. Who could be in your eyes? The young one may surprise you Augustus; try to keep an open mind."

"Why do you presume to know me, even though we have not talked in many years? That's quite presumptuous, even for you." This psycho-analysis was not welcome or needed.

"As much as you claim to have changed I know better than that. You're the same broody yet caring person Penelope came to know and love, the fact that you defend Weiss from everyone else proves that much." He really was serious about soiling all over an already horrible evening wasn't he? Besides, he did not brood!

"You really do enjoy causing people emotional trauma don't you? How's your family? I hear Emily is pregnant again, are your other children coming along well?"

"Ah. Deflection is a lovely thing, isn't it? Yes, everything is going well in this Schnee household. We don't know the sex of this next one, but after this we are thinking of stopping. Three children are plenty, wouldn't you agree?"

Making a noncommittal sound Augustus once more sipped from his rapidly draining glass. "I wouldn't really know, we never discussed multiple children, though if they were anything like Weiss I don't think I could handle two. I can hardly handle one as it is! It's good to hear at least one of us has a united family, Weiss is still bitter about the whole 'threatening to take Ruby away' thing."

"…You didn't actually do that did you?"

The seriousness in his old friend's voice caused him to pause; wasn't that what one was supposed to do when they disapproved of something? Especially if that something was a person?

"Well, of course I did-"

"Gods, Augustus! That's not what you do!"

"Well excuse me, you ignorant ass, but I am simply raising my daughter as I was raised. You know this." He was starting to get frustrated and Augustus knew his friendly mask was wearing thin. This exchange was dragging on for far too long.

"We both know how happy you were with that."

That was the last straw; long ago he and his father had come to an understand as to why he did what he did. Obviously he was asking too much of Jeremy for him to forget and forgive past wrongs. Downing the rest of his drink Augustus decided that it was time to see how Ruby was doing all on her own.

"As pleasurable as this encounter was, I must get going. I hope the rest of your evening is pleasant." With that he moved towards the group of teenagers that were crowding around the young team leader. Weiss was still caught up with the many adults who were interested in her for many reasons, the main one being how her education was coming along.

Nearing the group of teens Augusts was mildly surprised to hear the congregation not saying a word and listening in shocked awe to the stories that came from Ruby's mouth. It wasn't entirely unexpected, the youth of the family were extremely interested in hunters and huntresses, but seeing it for himself Augustus had trouble believing his eyes.

"Excuse me" The story telling instantly stopped. "but I need to speak with Miss. Rose alone. If that's alright?"

Not a single voice raised in protest. With the way clear ice met silver before Augustus turned and walked towards one of the few uninhabited corners of the room. He knew Ruby would follow, but what he did miss with his back turned were the gazes sent his and Ruby's way. This was what the family had been waiting to watched after-all. His destination reach and devoid of other people Augustus pivoted to face the object of his hatred.

"I trust you haven't done anything rash, have you?" He wasn't actually concerned; it was simple formality.

"Of course not! I have a brain ya know."

"I hadn't noticed." Pausing to glare further into determined pools of silver Augustus saw all he needed. "You shouldn't be dating my daughter."

"You shouldn't be considered her father."

The utter lack of warmth that accompanied that statement did more damage than both would ever truly know.

"Your opinion is irrelevant Ruby. After meeting her family can you honestly say you'd be happy dealing with them long term?" His goal was to try and reason the girl away from future pursuits; though logic did not seem to be the girl's strong point.

"As long as I have Weiss by my side it won't matter. We both love each other, why won't you let us be?" Did she think pleading and begging would work? How wrong she was.

"Don't be a hopeless romantic. I cannot let this be because you are bad for Weiss. You are not who she needs to run this family and company, you haven't the mind for it."

"Would you rather she grow up bitter and alone? You're more selfish than I thought."

"You're not as irreplaceable as you think yourself to be. If you believe that Weiss could never be with another then you're sorely mistaken."

"I don't need to think myself irreplaceable, I already know I am."

Was Ruby truly that delusional? She did know that Weiss was not a complete stranger to the dating world, right?

"Did Weiss not tell you?" He was actually shocked she hadn't...should he tell Ruby?

"Tell me what? Stop being so cryptic!" Now she was angry, how lovely.

Looking past Ruby and into the blue eyed crowd Augustus saw Weiss simply standing and staring at the two of them. No, this was something Weiss was going to have to tell Ruby. He wasn't going to gain Weiss's trust back if he went around spilling secrets to anyone that asked.

"Just ask Weiss about her dating history. However, this is not what I wanted to talk to you about." Crossing his arms Augustus made sure that nobody was able to hear him before continuing. "Since it's rather obvious you're going to be around for much longer than I'd like, we need to get along for Weiss's sake."

"That makes sense, though you're the one who enjoys insulting me."

He had the courtesy of looking a little ashamed. "Well, yes. However, since Weiss loves you I'd rather not continue to harass you." Holing his hand out, Augustus was treating this like a business deal, he had no other way of doing this. "I'll stay off your back as long as you stay off mine. Deal?"

Ruby stared at his hand for a few awkward moments before shaking his hand and meeting his eyes. "Deal."

Clearing his throat Augustus recovered and put both his hands behind his back. "Now if you'll excuse me, you have impressions to make and I have wine to drink."

**AN: That's a wrap on this family fun time! The chapter was dragging a bit; but anyways. Unless you forgot my previous statement from the top, please take a simple one to three minutes out of your day and leave a review. It really helps me grow as a writer and will increase the quality of future content. I thank those that have reviewed immensely, even if you don't criticize anything it lets me know what works and what I should continue to do. I can't improve if I don't know what you readers prefer. **


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: The sub-plots liiiiiiive! I have so many things moving around out of view it's ludicrous. If any of you can guess what's going to happen I'll give you a cameo in this story (you'll get to make a character). However I'm beyond confident that none of you will get it, so I'm not too worried about this messing with my planned plot. Important message at the end, please read. **

A Different Perspective

The rest of the evening went off without any other major confrontations or problems. Augustus honestly couldn't even remember much outside of his talk and agreement with Ruby and his run in with Jeremy. The ride home was oddly quiet, Ruby didn't seem to be in the talking mood and Weiss appeared to be blaming him. What had he done now? He hadn't done anything to the aggravating huntress, if anything he had alleviated some stress by making a deal to get off her case.

Before the pair departed though Augustus did feel obligated to give them the good news; it did involve them after-all.

"Weiss, Ruby, you two performed your roles perfectly tonight. I'm sure you both alleviated many concerns and have garnered enough support to remove the threat of disinheritance."

Before he could add in a comment he was sure he would later regret Augustus forced himself to stop. There was no need to aggravate either of them any further; plus he would be violating his deal with Ruby. However the mere sound of his voice caused Weiss to look at him with a harsh glare.

"Why are you so angry? Did you want to lose everything?" He was a bit exasperated at this point, hours of talking and socializing had drained him.

"What did you say to Ruby?" The question was crisp, spoken with a deadly edge.

"I haven't the faintest ide-"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" The sudden outburst shook Ruby from her trance and Augustus from his comfortable disposition. "Ever since you pulled Ruby aside she's hardly spoken to me! Did you really threaten her?!"

"I did no such thing! If anything we came to an agreement."

"Then why is she so miserable?" Weiss was practically begging him for an answer. "She won't even talk to me for Gods sake. Even now she just sits there with her mouth closed and eyes blank."

Tearing his gaze from his distraught daughter Augustus saw that there was truth in what Weiss was saying. Ruby continued to stay silent, but her eyes showed an inner conflict brewing. For him to see this and not Weiss it was evident that Weiss was only seeing what she wanted to. There was a very real possibility the Ruby would not want to put up with this aspect of their future relationship; Weiss did not want to even consider that it seemed.

"Weiss..." Sighing and leaning forward, Augustus gave his daughter his full attention. Even though he was used to ignoring people it was rather unnatural the way Ruby simply observed them.

"I'm not exactly the person you should talk to for romantic advise...Perhaps this should be saved until you are in a more private setting." Yes, this was the perfect cop-out and it made sense; who wanted their problems publicized?

"We don't have many private moments anymore." Weiss's ever saddening voice tugged at his heart. "I love my teammates, but, privacy with Ruby is very rare. Schedules and missions don't allow for it."

"Well." This was getting increasingly awkward. "I could just go sit up front with the pilot..." He did have his scroll, he could always get some work done. Besides, he really wanted to get out of this atmosphere, it wasn't doing any good for his health.

His daughter's eyes lit at his suggestion. "Would you, please? I can tell this needs to be solved sooner rather than later."

Without responding Augustus got up, opened the elegantly camouflaged door, and sat down in the empty co-pilot seat. Hearing the door shut he ignored the odd look from the woman beside him and got out his scroll. With no small amount of satisfaction he looked over his messages and allowed a smug smile to cross his face. The family, or those important in the family, were quite alright with such a 'civilized' and 'well-mannered' girl dating Weiss. If only they knew.

"Unless I say otherwise circle around Beacon Airspace."

"Yes, sir."

With a small amount of shame Augustus plugged his scroll into the aircraft itself and brought up the security camera feed. The hold was sound proof, so he rationalized that he just needed to make sure nothing got violent. Really he was just nosy; who wouldn't be curious?

He felt like a stalker though, all they were doing was talking, why was he watching this again? Before he could turn off his scroll in shame he saw Weiss stand up and pace, one of the few signs he could recall that signaled she was nervous, and Ruby appear to tear up. Did this thing have audio?

Fumbling with the multiple settings and unnecessary tool tips Augustus almost missed the sudden outburst Ruby gave and Weiss shrinking in on herself. Ungrateful brat. After all the crap Weiss went through and fought against, after everything _he _did to ensure their safety, that child had the audacity to treat his daughter like that?

Repressing the sudden urge to thrown Ruby from his personal craft Augustus failed to notice the pilot also discreetly bringing up the security feed on her own scroll. Autopilot had its uses. That was what the cockpit looked like for some unknown period of time, two people watching a soundless soap-opera play in front of them. It would have been comical had real people not been in very real emotional distress.

At one point Augustus had almost gotten up and actually thrown Ruby out of the harrier after she nearly hit Weiss. However seeing his daughter meet the challenge and calm the huntress in training reminded him that this was her battle, her business, he was not to interfere.

Eventually the fight ended and both parties came to an understanding, looking over Augustus noticed the pilot looking at the exact same thing he was. He just stared until she noticed and slowly put her device away, this time for good, and took back control of the jet.

"You may land now." With those words he departed, swiping his hand over the glowing pad on the wall the grey door slid upward. He immediately regretted opening the door. Weiss and Ruby were locking lips in very vulgar ways, hands were beginning to roam, and before Augustus could close his slackened jaw a soft moan was heard. That was far enough for his tastes.

"Would you two control yourselves until we get you back to Beacon?" The moment they heard his voice the two shot away from each other with red faces and avoided looking at him. How did they forget where they were? Imbeciles, the both of them. The remaining time was spent in silence; the only voices that broke the silence were his and Weiss's when they exchanged a rather awkward handshake and farewell. Augustus would fall asleep the moment his head hit his pillows, it had been one hell of a night.

* * *

He couldn't seem to get a break. Just a week after the whole family event the bureaucracy of the Vale Kingdom was coming down on him and his company. Now that the rebuilding of Vale City was done and the dead were buried the politicizing and blame games were underway. The media all had someone or something to blame; some new religious radicals were saying that the immorality of society displeased the Gods and they sent the grimm.

Others thought this was the precursor to a new massive grimm incursion, that humanity needed to prepare for the coming storm. Yet other parties had other conspiracy theories about how Schnee Dust and the government were in on it and the Schnee dynasty was trying to make the world use more dust by fabricating a grimm threat.

The Monarch announced that a formal investigation into the 'dire grimm threat' was going to be done and any parties who knowingly neglected to inform him of said threat was going to feel the 'full force of the law'. He wasn't too worried, they did have access to all government files, they knew exactly what and when they were going to investigate. Already the few files that were made to record grimm movements and such were incinerated or permanently deleted. Besides, the incident had occurred on private property, there wasn't much he could be charged with. It helped that the King relied on his company to drive his economy.

Vale City was actually turning into a more disastrous investment than anticipated. The damage repair costs was expected, but he and his kinsmen had little to no experience in the management of a population, let alone a city. He had put a family member in charge of the city but...he was going to have to replace her with a more competent individual should the situation not improve.

The only good thing about the current situation was the amount of grimm they now had to study. The preliminary reports he requested were not good; they were changing. The grimm of years past were not the grimm of today, they were stronger, faster, had thicker hides. Most disturbing of all, some were growing bigger brains. The coming years may be very dark ones should these creatures continue to evolve.

The only shining light was that they were working on chemicals and diseases to combat the grimm. Schnee Dust was invested in everything; from toothpaste to biological weaponry, the least he could do was ensure these weapons were made for grimm rather than humans.

Still, even with those development it was good to finally get back to the grind of daily business life. He never thought he would miss signing contracts on his scroll so much, it was probably the chair. Sadly his past time was going to have to wait, he had an appointment with some government agent in less than five minutes. At least they had the courtesy of asking for an audience; they could have just broken down his doors and demanded answers.

"Mr. Schnee, the investigator has arrived. Should I send her in?"

"Of course Ms. Scarlatina, no reason to keep our friend waiting."

These new two way speakers he had installed a few days ago were a blessing! How come he hadn't gotten one sooner? This rendered the countless amounts of hidden buttons underneath his desk unless; he would no longer have to memorize what all those accursed things did.

Closing his scroll and pocketing the device Augustus sat up straighter and put up his business facade. He knew exactly why she was here and what she was going to ask, he just had to play his part.

Walking through the door was his new enemy. In painfully stereotypical fashion the woman who slipped into his office wore a black suit with black dress pants, tinted glasses hid her eye color, her hair was shoulder length and surprisingly orange. It was the only thing that made her stand out, that and her walk of utter authority and superiority. He could already tell this was not going to be fun.

"Please, take a seat. I'm sure we have much to discuss." Even if she was going to be confrontational, he could still try to be polite. Without giving him a response the orange haired agent took a seat and brought out her scroll.

Not missing a beat she got right to the point. "As I'm sure you know your company is currently under investigation; the charge being that you withheld vital information and knowingly endangered the lives of over one million people."

Ah. So it was officially underway. Shame they would never find anything. "Indeed, I am fully aware of the investigation. What makes you think we here at Schnee Dust would ever do such a thing?"

"We may not be the most efficient police force but we are not stupid." He begged to differ on that one. "You expect us to believe that you buy an entire city, out of nowhere, and no more than two months later the first major grimm incursion in decades happens?"

"We've always wanted to get rights to resources, now we don't have to go through taxation or red tape. The timing of the attack was most unfortunate though, surely you're not going to try and turn this tragedy into some political rallying point? Trying to milk money out of my law-abiding company?"

"How does that explain the small army and excessive fortifications you immediately deployed? The forest you chopped down?" It was all circumstantial evidence, but it was starting to bury him. "The coordination between your troops and Beacon's hunters? How could Beacon, the grimm hunting experts of Vale, overlook a grimm force of over one-hundred thousand right in their back yard?"

"Perhaps you should take that up with the school." His voice lost the fake pleasant tone and assumed a harsher and much colder disposition. "Why on Remnant would I, or anyone in this company, try to hide information on a grimm invasion force? What could we possibly stand to gain? Your accusations are insulting."

The agent fidgeted nervously under his unwavering glare; it helped that he was using his semblance to cool the room. Intimidation was all about psychology.

"I-I assure you that Beacon is indeed under investigation." Looking down at her scroll the agent regained her composure and continued. "However, we also have actual evidence of wrong doing. Witnesses are coming forward and they are placing the blame on you personally for this tragedy. We are only sharing this with you to ensure your cooperation, if you admit wrong doing now we will be able to help you later."

The room cooled another few degrees as his patience wore thin. They had no witnesses, no evidence, he had personally looked at the investigation files and found nothing but suspicions and circumstantial evidence.

"You would be wise not to lie to me Mrs. Williams, I know you have no evidence." He knew everything about Avery Williams, from her name to her past. This pathetic attempt at rattling his cage was starting to get on his nerves. He still had a lot of work to do.

However, more drastic actions were not needed. The simple saying of her last name caused the color to drain from her face and her hands to start shaking, was he really that intimidating? No matter, whatever ended this farce sooner rather than later.

"O-Of course Mr. Schnee. I apologize for wasting your time, I will take my leave now. I wish you a splendid afternoon." Getting up from her seat and quickly bowing, Williams was long gone before Augustus could even begin to understand what had just happened...that wasn't to say he really cared. He still had many things to look over.

As the hours of the day passed him by Augustus couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't a foreboding feeling, or one that caused any large amount of alarm, he just felt as if something was missing. Augustus knew the feeling all too well.

He was lonely. Years of isolation from genuine human contact were starting to get to him, more and more often he found himself wishing that he had someone to talk to. However, Augustus knew that this was not going to happen. Allowing anyone to get too close could very well end up going horribly wrong, they could be targeted by his many enemies; worse, they could be paid off to betray him. No, he was content to let his loneliness fester as long as he didn't have to go through another heart break.

* * *

Nothing too extraordinary happened as the months passed and winter came. Grimm studies were still moving at a sluggish pace, the White Fang's power was continuing to dwindle as faunus in Vale ever so slowly closed the pay gap and had the full legal support of their employer. The family was more than happy with this development; the faunus were earning their pay and benefits and they were being left alone, it had been weeks since the last assassination attempt on a family member.

Augustus and Burgundy were slowly but surely coming closer; after working for a week on twenty hours of sleep Augustus had finally caved and admitted to the bunny faunus that he needed help. She was more than happy to oblige, he was the one who finally got her ex to pay what he owed her. The only thing that worried the frigid business man was the upcoming winter break, Weiss would be coming home from Beacon for two months before going back to begin her studies once more.

He was going to have to work from home for that time; he didn't want his daughter living in an empty home for her time on break. This also gave him the perfect opportunity to get Weiss into the work she was to do later in life. That was what brought him to his current position, sitting in a cushioned swinging chair on his marble porch waiting for Weiss to arrive. He wasn't slacking off though, he had his trusty scroll with him and was finishing up reading through his latest pet project when he heard the limo pull up.

Looking up from his screen Augustus was greeted with the sight of a sleek white limo and Weiss's light blue eyes. He allowed himself to smile a bit before giving a lazy wave. His smile was soon replaced with a confused scowl when he saw Blake emerge from the other side of the vehicle. What was she doing here? Why was he not informed?

That confusion was replaced with anger when he saw Ruby Rose also make her way out of the prestigious limo. What did Weiss think she was pulling with this little stunt? Pocketing his scroll, Augustus marched with a purpose down the white marble steps that lead to his home and waved off the servants that were getting luggage out. They could carry their own damn things.

In his usual attire Augustus greeted the nervous eyes of his daughter with an unforgiving glare before moving onto the other two. Blake was not an unwelcome sight, he was only mad that Weiss had not told him about her, but Ruby being here infuriated him. This could possibly be the greatest undermining of his authority he had yet experienced and showed the lack of respect the couple had for him.

Ice beginning to form at his feet, Augustus forced his aura down before he damaged any of his property. The temperature was still ice cold though. Moving his gaze back to Weiss, he crossed his arms and waited for an explanation. This had better be good.

**IMPORTANT**** PLEASE READ **

**Heyoz, as you can tell this chapter took a very long time compared to me usual update times. From now on there will be a release one time a week, I simply cannot keep up with the rate I've been going at. I will also be going back and doing some minor editing to past chapters. I don't have a lack of drive or ideas, I just need to slow down before I burn myself out. Writing over 50K words in under a month was rather taxing. It didn't help that this chapter also gave me a lot of problems, its not my best writing, but I'll have to do. I know where I want to go, its getting there that's giving me trouble. But yes! Can you believe we are coming up to the one month anniversary of this story? Whoooo! **

**I am completely serious about the character thing though, If you guess a major plot point that's coming up I'll PM you and you can create your own character for this story, he/she will play an important role, so no worries on me sidelining them. The only rule is that if someone gets the point before you do you will get no credit, so first come first serve. As always reviews are greatly appreciated. **


	16. Calm Before the Storm

**AN: If some of you would check your inboxes (only one here folks, but I'd rather be discrete) that would be great. Experienced my first real bout of writers block here, so sorry for the late update. The only cannon changes are Penelope's death date, its now three years ago due to age problems. This chapter was exhausting to write, I apologize for the long update time. But we are officially one month old! Whooooo! In celebration I've decided to finally start naming my chapters.**

The standoff, if it could be called that, was getting increasingly awkward. He and Weiss were simply staring each other down as his semblance attempted to chill her to the bone. Her Schnee blood prevented that though, sometimes he really hated that passive ability all Schnees shared.

Blake watched on in mild amusement and Ruby was being...Ruby. Somehow she had found a cookie and glass of milk as she watched the silent battle of wills with rapt attention. It was almost like she could see the mute argument going on between the two. The only time he and Weiss seemed to understand each other was when they argued with one another, it was almost eerie, the amount of words that could be communicated without a sound when the two really wanted to get a step up over the other.

What this time did give Augustus was the ability to think clearly. Augustus was a frighteningly intelligent man, being able to multitask was like breathing; more often than not he could corner an expert chess player while negotiating a business deal with full attentiveness and thinking about future investments. His only downfall was his temper, it was easily triggered by the smallest of things outside of the arena. However, this prolonged encounter was giving Augustus time to finally think on just what he was doing...acting like a child.

What kind of father got mad when his daughter brought over a friend and girlfriend? Granted, said friend was a faunus and the girlfriend hardly tolerable but there was no reason for such a fuss. He was only mad about not being told, about not being respected. The only person who would eventually be able outsmart Augustus was his daughter; both knew this, but only one acknowledged that fact. The only thing that kept Weiss from out maneuvering Augustus and reaching her full potential were her own emotional problems; she was quick to judge and even quicker to act on said judgments. Augustus had the patience to outwit an opponent, Weiss had the brainpower to immediately find a solution.

After more time was spent in silence Augustus finally came to his senses. He was being silly, petty, perhaps even antagonistic. This left him in a very precarious position; he needed to defuse the situation without utterly embarrassing himself.

"Why are they here?"

Augustus's deep, frigid voice broke the battle and Weiss was quick to react.

"Blake wishes to discuss business matters and I invited Ruby. Is there a problem with that?" Assuming her normal confrontational stance, Weiss crossed her arms and placed her weight on her left leg, all the while glaring at her father.

"My apologies Ms. Belladonna, do you wish to carry your own luggage?" Receiving a small nod Augustus moved onto his real issue with all of this. How long would Ruby be staying and where would she be sleeping? Clasping his hands behind his back and straightening his spine Augustus reigned in his semblance and emotions before laying down a few rules.

"Ruby Rose...you are to refrain from distracting Weiss when she is working. You are also going to put that milk and half-eaten cookie away and pay attention before I freeze both of them."

He watched unamused as the cookie soon disappeared into Ruby's mouth and the glass was emptied in a matter of seconds. She was such an uncivilized brute; he was fortunate that Yang appeared to be busy elsewhere. That gutter trash was not going to be stepping inside his humble home anytime soon.

"Good, you will also not be sleeping in the same room-"

"What? But, but, whyyyyy?"

What on remnant? This version of Ruby was...off-putting. The wide silver eyes and quivering lip did nothing to garner his support or sympathy, was THAT the face Weiss fell for? He was almost ashamed.

"...Because I said so; I'd rather not have to deal with your intimate escapades." At that Weiss and Ruby both flushed a deep red. Before he could allow his mind to linger he waved for servants to take Weiss's luggage and refocused his gaze on the cat faunus.

"You can stay with either Weiss or Ruby, it's your choice. Just know that all movements are monitored, so I will know if any of you are sneaking about. Any questions or objections?"

Seeing Ruby raise her hand and Weiss clamp her mouth over the cookie lover's mouth, Augustus decided to ignore the two and divert his attention to the ever quiet Blake. He was surprised to see an outreached hand and small smile adorning her face. Politely shaking the teen's hand he allowed a smile of his own to appear.

"It's good to finally meet you in a more hospitable environment Mr. Schnee. I can see where Weiss gets her traits from now." Faunus had an almost sinful relationship with speech; Burgundy had her accent and Blake had that smooth, silk like tone that could melt lesser men in a matter of seconds. He was impressed.

"The pleasure is all mine Ms. Belladonna, I cannot wait to speak with you about more important matters. Are you sure you wish to carry your things? I pay these people good money to do this work."

"As flattered as I am, I must decline. I'm sure you'll understand when I say I prefer independence."

"Of course! No offence taken, shall we get a move on then? It seems my daughter and that mongrel have already taken their leave."

Augustus pretended not to notice the sudden frown that marred Blake's features at Ruby's new nick-name. He knew that his hatred for the team leader was going to alienate Blake, but he preferred honesty whenever he could afford to do so. Beating around the bush did no one any good in honest exchange. Seeing as Blake only had a single suit case Augustus decided to escort the faunus to whatever room she wished to use. Falling in step beside Blake Augustus allowed himself to simply enjoy the quiet company of a fellow intellect; what had ever possessed him to ever try and imprison this young lady? She was obviously no longer a threat to anyone who worked inside of the law.

Opening the door to his not so humble abode Augustus allowed Blake to enter his home without a single pat-down. He didn't trust her at all, but he did trust Weiss, meaning he was going to have to give Blake the benefit of the doubt. That didn't mean he still wasn't going to have security discreetly doubled.

* * *

Blake ended up rooming with Ruby, meaning Weiss was all alone in her room. She hadn't gone to her original room, preferring to stay in a more adequate and high-class family guest room. He would be staying wherever he pleased; that meant he would be sleeping in the study in those comfy green chairs. He absolutely adored those things.

With everyone settled Augustus opened his scroll and made sure he had access to the video cameras stationed all around the interior of the house. Blake was reading, no surprise there, but Ruby and Weiss were currently preoccupied with more personal matters. He wasn't about to stop them, Weiss was perfectly capable of choosing to allow such things, he could care less about Ruby being too innocent for such acts. However, this left him with time to ponder his main question. Why was Ruby here?

He was still waiting for intelligence on Ozpin to come through but he could piece together that the headmaster and Ruby were somehow related. Ruby Rose was adopted into the Long household after the death of her mother, Summer Rose. Her uncle Qrow was Yang's father and a professor at Signal Academy, he was also her mentor, Summer's husband or lover was nowhere to be seen. She never took any vows and no father could ever be found, no matter how hard he searched.

Ruby should be with her adopted sister Yang in the Long household, she should be with her adopted family. Why had Yang allowed this to happen? He had thoroughly read through the psych reports issued for each of his daughter's team mates, Yang should not have agreed to this. Ruby shouldn't even want to come here! Weiss was obviously playing a game of some sort, she had an angle, what it was he did not know, but he was going to be cautious.

Blake was much easier to understand, her presence here meant she wanted to talk with him about the company. She was likely not going to get another chance like this anytime soon, why send an essay when one could engage in active debate? Blake was probably going to try and convince him to be more active in the pursuit of faunus rights world-wide, possibly donate money to "just" causes ect ect. She was intelligent, he would admit that much, but she was still far outmatched by Weiss and himself. That was not pride or arrogance, that was fact.

The simple fact that he could think all this while reading through his usual work showed just how intelligent he was. Augustus's mind was always hungry for new knowledge, new problems to solve, new philosophy to think on; it was how he survived the monotony of his job every day. His memory was photographic, he would never forget a face or code, everything he learned would forever stick with him. It was still a pain to memorize everything, but it was more annoyance than actual effort.

He was actually done for the day, he had finished working not long ago and was now in his own personal study. It was a small room, nothing fancy littered the walls or floor, no expensive and flashy items were anywhere to be seen. The small room was walled by full bookshelves, the shelves being stained a light blue, and the floor was covered in white carpet. A small fireplace was carved into the back of the room, with his favorite white padded chair being in front of it. This used to be his castle, his sanctum; he hadn't been here in years. Augustus finally realized just how much he had missed his home, it held painful memories, but the familiarity and feel of comfort could not be overcome.

This left him with free time...which meant he could finally catch up on reading. With a library to choose from, Augustus stayed in his study until the wee hours of the night before finally retiring to the large green room. If this was what working from home felt like he was going to have to do it more often, the only person he'd miss would be Burgundy after-all.

* * *

The day started out like any other day; Augustus woke up, showered, brushed his teeth, dressed in his sweats and T-shirt, grabbed his scroll and went to work after having a light breakfast. He was actually enjoying his time in his own home for once, that was until the Ruby train came crashing though the kitchen. With speed he did not know to be humanly possible the young huntress dashed around him as he sat at the counter in the center of the pristine kitchen.

He saw what she was doing; making coffee, preparing pancakes, pouring cereal, simple breakfast things. He did not fail to notice that she too enjoyed lazing about in sweatpants and t-shirts. The only difference being she wore red pants and black shirt. It was actually pretty amazing what the human eye could see when it came to movement, the reason projectile weapons were becoming obsolete in war was due to the ability to train ones senses to 'sense' bullets. With the ability to dodge hunters were death machines the few times they went AWOL and started killing people, only other hunters could stop them.

So it really wasn't too hard to reach out and grab the overactive huntress by the hood to prevent her from speeding by him once more. Rose Pedals were getting all over the floor, there was no need to use her semblance here.

"No more rose pedals Ms. Rose, thank you."

Releasing the teen Augustus was pleased when his only response was a huff and a lack of pedals. Now he could enjoy his coffee without worrying about drinking any rose pedals. His day today was going to be mostly free, Burgundy had volunteered to pick up a large amount of the work load for the first two weeks. He had objected of course, but she had been quite adamant about it, saying he needed to relax for once in his life. Pah. He knew how to relax!

Taking a sip from his light blue mug, Augustus was left alone with his thoughts and one Ruby Rose...so just his thoughts. Hopefully Blake was up for some conversation today, all he had to do was spend a few hours doing some work on his scroll. It was already 8 A.M. so Weiss would be down soon; he was going to have to ask about Blake when she got down here.

He didn't have to wait long, a few minutes after Ruby's arrival Weiss gracefully walked into the kitchen.

"Weiiiiiiiiiiss!"

And was then set upon by Ruby, it was rather adorable. Weiss was yelling with face flushed and hair down as she tried to wiggle her way out of the younger girls embrace. Her night gown was the same one she had when she was fifteen, the light blue silk being of high quality and Weiss being extremely short made it so the replacing of cloths was a rare occurrence. Far as he knew Weiss was still bitter about her lack of height...not that he could blame her, Ruby was taller than her for Gods sake!

As the couple bantered before him Augustus allowed himself to chuckle at the utterly ridiculous scene in front of him. It brought a smile to his face to see his daughter happy, he may not like the woman she fell for, but that was irrelevant. His entire life was based on suppressing and hiding his true feelings, there was no reason he couldn't try harder to be nicer. However, if Ruby ever did something to harm Weiss intentionally...well, she would be poor and homeless in a matter of seconds.

Eventually the bickering girls sat across from him and got to eating their respective meals. Weiss was having a small bowl of cereal with coffee while Ruby had a pile of pancakes and towering glass of milk. He had already eaten and was simply sipping his cooling cup of black energy.

"So, what work will I be doing today?"

Weiss's question broke Augustus from his musings. She must have not checked her scroll.

"There is none. There won't be any for another two weeks, my assistant is taking on most of the burden until then."

"Velvet's mother can do that?"

"Why couldn't she? Burgundy is my paid assistant, she has the authority to sign my name on most documents, paper and virtual."

"I'll be sure to thank her later..."

The rest of breakfast was spent with Augustus playing on his scroll while sipping on coffee and blocking out the banter between Ruby and Weiss. Blake had yet to make an appearance and the couple planned on spending much of the day alone and enjoying the entertainment systems riddled throughout the house. He was just going to lounge about in the large study and play some online chess and strategy games. His brain always needed a challenge.

* * *

As the hours of the day crept by and another opponent fell to his superior mind Augustus felt a presence enter the room. It was about time. He had already arranged the table and chairs so that they would sit across from one another in front of the fireplace. The table was holographic, they would be able to play whatever they wished as they talked.

"I was beginning to get worried you wouldn't show."

"A bit presumptuous of you to assume my being here is for your sake."

"Perhaps, but I'm not incorrect."

Seeing the faunus sit across from him sky blue met gold as their gazes locked. He had respect for this girl, her grades were almost as impeccable as Weiss's. That took much more than simple luck and drive. This teen was intelligent, very intelligent, he was interested in what she had to say.

"Even so..." Blake leaned forward and examined the white and black holographic pieces that littered the table between them. "You're a great player, well done on cornering the queen in three moves. How about you face a real challenge?"

"Now who's the presumptuous one?" The pieces all resent themselves as the chess program reset all the stats and switched to regulation rules. Blake had the white pieces and would have the opening move. Chess was one of the few sports that retained its old world rules when being 'modernized'. He did miss the elegantly carved boards and pieces of old though.

"So, what brings you to my home Ms. Belladonna? You don't appear to be a woman of courtesy or small talk."

"I can see where Weiss gets her no-nonsense attitude from now." Her calculating gaze scanned the hologram before she made her move. "You Schnees can't seem to comprehend the idea of down time."

"You wound me! Did it ever occur to you that this is how I relax? Perhaps it's not to your own liking, but it's not about you, is it?" His voice lacked his usual chill and wasn't nearly as monotone. Moving his own pawn forward Augustus ended his move; the built in timer really did improve the games pacing and accuracy. Every millisecond counted after-all.

A noncommittal humming was his only response as the game got fully underway. As expected Blake was more of a challenge than most other people or AI he had faced. Still, it took under fifteen moves to decimate the poor girl, her shocked expression was not going to be forgotten anytime soon. He knew he had a smug look on his face, but that made her reaction all the more entertaining. With an uncharacteristic huff Blake reset the board and made the first move again. Two more games past before discussion finally began.

"I hear you're a fiction reader Ms. Belladonna, any good reads lately?"

Blake's feline eyes drilled into his own before she refocused on the game at hand. "'Of Grimm and Men' by T. R. Heartwig is what I'm currently reading. I know you spy on me Mr. Schnee, as well as Ruby and Yang, there's no need to hide it."

"Ah. An excellent choice; have you read any other works of his? I personally recommend 'Darkened Soul', a classic that one. Speaking of those two, is there a reason Ruby is here right now? Should she not be with Yang?" Ending his turn, Augustus allowed himself to chuckle as the young faunus reset the game again and once more made the first move. He decided to ignore the spy comment.

"Weiss invited Ruby, Yang didn't have a problem with it. Perhaps your profiles need updating? Weiss and Yang get along much better now that she and Ruby have been dating for about half a year now...If you don't mind me asking, why do you hate Ruby so much?"

It seemed like a genuine enough question, one filled with nothing but actual curiosity, but he could tell from her eyes that this was an emotionally charged question. Blake wanted to know why someone like him hated another so completely without valid reason. He had actually thought on it for some time after he came to terms with his feelings, he had an answer.

"Ruby Rose isn't a cruel or mean person, she has the best of intentions at heart and dreams of saving the world from grimm. She's not a bad person, not by a long shot, a bit naive, but she's still young...No, I don't hate Ruby because she's a bad person or morally bankrupt, nor am I completely intolerant of different lifestyles. The problem is that she's dating my daughter."

"Why is that such a problem? The two can have as many kids as they wish."

"I know that, I am the one who funded that breakthrough after-all. I fear that Ruby will influence Weiss for the worst, make her too trusting, too naive, too idealistic. You must understand that this company and this family have a culture and tradition all on its own. We value monetary success, intellect, skills of all kinds, hard and honest work. I could go on but I think you get the point, Ruby Rose is the antithesis of this, need I say more?"

Blake seemed confused by his words, with her head cocked to one side she continued to question his stance. "Ruby is far from lazy, nor is she stupid, she skipped ahead two years and is attending one of the best educational facilities in the Kingdom. Ruby is not that far from you're ideal partner for Weiss."

"At first glance, yes, Ruby seems to line up well with what we value. However, Ruby is not a business woman, she has not the mind for it. Weiss is going to run my empire when I die or step down, millions of employees and billions of consumers are going to be affected by her decisions. If she is to marry and have children then her partner must be able to help her in the family business. Ruby has no personal wealth, no prestige, has her head in the clouds and thinks with her heart. All of these are equally unacceptable."

Blake growled before admitting defeat again and restarting the game. He wasn't even paying much attention to the board anymore and he was still wiping the floor with her. That may have been the most infuriating part to Blake, she was a prideful faunus, being toyed with or dismissed would piss anyone off.

"So you prioritize the company over Weiss then?"

"It's not that simple. You of all people should know this."

"How so? I'm not judging you, just admit the truth; you prioritize the company over Weiss."

"You don't understand, this company is for Weiss. Their interests are intertwined."

"If you say so...ugh." He was losing count of how many times Blake lost. "How are you this good?"

"Years of practice and intelligence. You're smart Ms. Belladonna, but I am far beyond you."

"I can see that...have you ever played Tongo?"

"I've never heard of it."

"I wouldn't expect anything else. It's the faunus version of chess, the rules are mostly the same excluding the starting placement of the pieces and the look of said pieces."

With a quick search and download Augustus and Blake could now play this Tongo. It only took a few seconds for the game board to make an appearance; it looked like a chess players wet dream. It was had the appearance of a chess board, only much, much bigger and had different physical features littering the 40 by 40 hologram. On his side he had two rows of pawns and then one row of special pieces. His forces only occupied the middle of the board, meaning he had forty pawns and nineteen 'special' pieces.

Blake's side mirrored his own, the only difference between their sides were the physical features on the board. What did they represent? After Blake changed a setting the lined areas formed into impassable mountain ranges while the blue tiles turned into bodies of water. How had he never heard of this game? It looked wonderful!

"The only real difference here is that the water and mountains cannot be moved to or through and pawns can move diagonally. So, ready to play?"

His response was a pawn moving forward.

* * *

After getting severely thrashed in the first game Augustus was quickly turning the tables in the second. He knew how to play now, this game may be more tactical and have more variables, such as the randomly generated board, but he was able to adapt. Blake was more than happy to educate him in faunus culture and heritage, these games took much longer so by the time the first two were done they were already talking about literature.

He could appreciate a fiction book every now and again but his preference was firmly placed in reality. Blake was the opposite, she preferred to read fiction and escape reality, escapism was great to sample but too much and one would weaken their grasp on how real people react. Least that was how he saw it, the two agreed to disagree on the effects of escapism.

"Why did you let me go?"

Looking up from the game Augustus had to think for a few seconds before he understood. That was a good question indeed.

"You're one of Weiss's only friends, possibly her only close one. I simply didn't see the need to detain you once I learned that Weiss trusted you."

A smug smirk marred the usually stoic face of the cat faunus. "So you do care, I was beginning to worry."

"Of course I care." Giving the smug faunus a small glare Augustus moved to check her king. "I don't see how you people can keep getting surprised. It's rather obvious I care."

"Well...we don't live like you do, nor do we fully grasp your Schnee morality. Since Weiss was convinced you wanted to make her depressed we just decided to agree without thinking about it." Blake moved her king out of check by putting a pawn between it and his bishop. A sound move.

"Ignorance is no excuse. I grow weary of the constant lack of respect and civility as I fight for Weiss and Ruby's ability to date each other." He really was, the blatant glares and disrespect were starting to grate on his nerves. He had lost many friends after his policy change and Ruby's rather coarse behavior was not helping her case in his eyes. Sometimes he really regretted not nipping this while he still could.

"Wait." Amber met sapphire as the game before them lay forgotten. "You defended Ruby?"

"No, not at all. I defended Weiss's ability to choose who she wants to love. I'm sure you saw the news on our changed policy? I did that to protect those two from the rest of the family."

"What about the family ball?"

"What of it?"

"Wasn't that an attempt at scare Ruby away?"

He had to blink in confusion a few times before that sentence was finally processed. Augustus had never intended for that fight to happen, nor did he really care what Ruby thought of his family business. Was that what they thought? They were truly deluded.

"Of course not. My intention was to introduce Ruby to what she would have to deal with later in life should the two remain together. It was not my fault the child had a breakdown over something silly."

Her counter was to hum thoughtfully before finally making her move. It's not like it mattered, she was already cornered.

* * *

That was how it was for the first two weeks. Augustus and Blake would bond over intellectual discussion, usually over some kind of sophisticated game, while Weiss and Ruby did as they wished. The times the couple left they were put under heavy security, but those instances were rare. From philosophy to biology the two intellectuals talked into the wee hours of the night on some days.

From time to time the two would discuss more personal matters; there was a level of trust and understanding between the introverts. Blake told him of what drove her to the White Fang, how hard her life was, sometimes she would tell him of the things she saw done. All as horrific as the last. By the time came for his work to start up again he would have called Blake a friend of sorts. He never truly opened his heart or spoke too deeply himself, but he knew Blake understood.

At first Augustus was actually exited to be able to work and possibly teach Weiss; that didn't last long. Weiss was bitter over being drug away from her love by him, he tried to make small talk, truly he did, but she blew him off most of the time. The few times he caught her in a good mood their conversations didn't get very far, they had very little in common when it came to topics to talk about outside of business. Ruby and Blake seemed to enjoy the free time though, they went into the city to explore most of the time. With guards of course.

So it was understandable when Augustus finally went to sleep on a bed rather than a chair. He was through with Weiss's attitude; he was sick of being treated like trash. His hair was getting longer too, though only the hair on his head. Pure bread Schnees had no hair outside of the hair on their heads and eyebrows, it was evolutionary as far as he knew. A mutation had blessed them with cold resistance, so after that body hair was phased out manually. The history of the modern Schnee was dark and filled with blood.

He was going to have to deal with her in the remaining three weeks.

* * *

Hours later Augustus awoke to a ringing in his ear; quickly moving his finger into said ear and manipulating his earpiece he answered the call.

"Augustus! You need to get out of here!"

Gunfire came through the microphone before an explosion rocked his home and nearly cut his line. He was still in his sweatpants and t-shirt, Augustus wasted no time in getting his rapier from underneath his bed and strapping it to this waist. The aura amplifier was always on, it never had to be turned off or removed.

"What's the situation?"

"Unknown number of hostiles-shit shit shit-they are inside the manor. We have transport inbound, get to the roof ASAP!"

"Thank you."

Augustus never heard from him again.

**AN: Sooooo how many saw this coming? Who are they here for? What do they want? Anyway, I'll apologize once more for the late update time. Writing dialogue is really hard for me. Can't wait to write big bad Augustus fight! Reviews, as always, are deeply appreciated. **


	17. Unforeseen Consequences

**AN: Here we go folks, Augustus first time in combat on the big screen! Whoo! This chapter was really hard to write, combine my dissatisfaction and mild writers block in execution of my ideas and you have a two week update time. Sorry guys. However, two weeks or something around 10 days is going to be a more accurate representation of update times. I know I keep pushing it back, but I'm writing bigger chapters, so time will be changed accordingly. **

**WARNING: There are some pretty disturbing ways of dying in this chapter, and some...less savory things at the end. If you skipped the previous combat sequences then I highly suggest you skip this one as well. Bold wording will tell ya when it's over. Though...you may just want to skip this entirely if the idea of realistic, more gory combat makes you queasy. **

A Different Perspective

The first thing Augustus did as he ran through the dimly lit halls was initiate the 'Downfall' protocol. Should the family head come under direct attack all Schnee family members were to be recalled to company headquarters as to assure all crucial family members survived should it be a precursor to a larger plan to eradicate the Schnee family. There was a similar protocol that was triggered when any family member came under attack, so no matter who was under threat the family would know.

The second part of 'Downfall' was the company security aspect. His scroll would now be locked with the best cyber security programs on the planet and were developed by Schnee Dust as to assure its secrets were never revealed. It would also be broadcasting an SOS signal as to allow for the location of the scroll and its owner should they be MIA. Weiss's scroll would be under similar countermeasures. The secrets on his scroll could never be revealed, too much information on Schnee Dust and the family was on it to afford it ever being hacked.

His duties now fulfilled Augustus focused solely on finding Weiss and leaving. Ruby and Blake could die for all he cared, the only person who mattered to him in this very moment was his daughter. Too many of his loved ones had died under his watch, he would not be adding her name to his mental gravestone. He could hear the sounds of combat not to far ahead, as well as Weiss's signature sound when she used her glyphs. However, his path was soon blocked as the people who dared to invade his home attempted to slow his progress.

The closer he got the more enraged he became. He could clearly see the signature symbol of the White Fang proudly plastered onto the grey chest plates of the grunts that stood in front of him. There were only three, each would only have a few more seconds to live. Ignoring their cries of 'stop' Augustus summoned forth a white glyph **(****Authors note at bottom explaining) **to deflect the bullets that were soon fired in his direction.

Outreaching a hand Augustus shrunk his glyph and shot it straight into the middle mans gut, careening him off further down the hall. Already only feet away from his other two opponents Augustus quickly palmed the two grunts faces. With a small pump of his Aura Augustus's semblance rapidly froze their heads into solid blocks of ice before they could retaliate. Drawing his blade from its sheath the Schnee patriarch wasted no time in rotating the dust chamber to red and moved to stand over his final enemy. Eyes cold and cruel Augustus pointed his sword at the downed and nearly unconscious man before blowing the faunus scum's head off.

His rapier was extremely similar in design and function to his daughter's; the only two differences were that where blue dust would be black and green took it's place and his sword was able to fire red dust projectiles. The mechanisms in the hilt of his blade used his aura to manipulate and propel the volatile substances at high speeds. The black dust was a strengthening agent, extremely rare, this dust would make his ice constructs much stronger than they already were if he chose to inject the dust into his ice. This meant that he had to channel his semblance into the sword itself to infuse the ice; the end result was black ice.

Disregarding the headless corpse at his feet Augustus once more brought forth a glyph to block the multitude of bullets being fired at him from behind. Apparently these scum had friends.

"Augustus Schnee! Come with us and your daughter will not be harmed!"

"Like hell I'll believe the words of vermin like you!"

Without giving the White Fang member a chance to reply Augustus channeled his semblance into his blade before firing. The red dust mixed with his ice and turned it to water; the faunus were now drenched and somewhat confused but continued to try and break his barrier. The morons deserved to die if they were this brainless. Switching to yellow dust Augustus tapped the thin tip of his blade to the pool at his feet and pulled the trigger. Electricity coursed through the water and almost instantly overwhelmed the aura of his attackers; they were all soon smoking husks.

Augustus's uncaring gaze analyzed the scene in front of him before he turned and once more sprinted towards the sounds of gunfire and dust usage. His homes defense system was not activating, he could only assume that this damnable organization had somehow disabled them. The guards that normally littered the halls were absent, all either dead or about to be dead. How had this happened? This was supposed to be one of the safest places in Vale!

Emerging from the maze of narrow corridors Augustus paused to evaluate the situation. Ruby was in some red and black pajamas wielding her scythe like a master, decapitated and disemboweled bodies laid around her bleeding as she cut down fodder troop after fodder troop. Blake was in a purple top with black sweats, her bow was absent and she took had multitudes of dead and dying White Fang members strew about the area she was fighting in. Weiss was absent, where she was he did not know.

"Ruby, where is Weiss?!"

He was surprised the teen could hear his voice over the gunfire, but was pleased with the response.

"We forced her to go with your personal guard to the rooftop!"

His daughter safe, Augustus now had a few precious seconds to fully grasp what was happening. Weiss was safe with his own guard, they had been ordered to make her their first priority should this situation ever come about; he valued her life over his own when it came to these things. They were the best money could buy, they would not fail him.

The two huntresses before him however would not be able to forever hold off the seemingly endless horde. He stood atop a balcony as they fought on the lower level of the entrance way to his home. They must have been the first people to meet the enemy once they got inside. He wouldn't forgive himself if he abandoned these girls, neither would Weiss.

His decision made, Augustus pointed the tip of his rapier towards Blake's opponents before outreaching his free hand. Glyph manipulation was not his specialty. With some difficulty he trapped the struggling huntress inside a box of white glyphs and let loose multiple shots of yellow electricity. The White Fang members had no time to dodge, they too joined their accursed brothers and sisters in the afterlife.

Cycling to violet dust Augustus continued to prevent Blake from moving as he too boxed in his daughters girlfriend. The effects of this dust were especially cruel. Purple energy crackled through his blade before being expelled via three bursts of energy. The purple projectiles each exploded into clouds of black before dissipating. The confused terrorists only had a few more seconds to live before their insides were turned to black liquid. His violet dust was a specially designed type of dust made for the specific use of killing people en mass. Needless to say this dust was not readily available in public or private markets.

Releasing his hold on the huntresses Augustus jumped from the balcony and landed on the ground level.

"We are getting out of here, follow me."

Sheathing his blade, Augustus took off down a nearby corridor without waiting for any responses. Now was not the time to stand idle and talk, he would have to question why they had such difficulty with them later.

"Sir, the heiress is aboard. Waiting on you."

The mechanical, emotionless voice brought him much needed comfort. Weiss was safe. Rounding another corner the group came face to face with at least twenty White Fang members. Augustus almost instantly felt Ruby fly by him as the sound of gunfire reverberated though his eardrums, Blake too flashed forward and engaged the enemy. Whatever reservations the two had they were obviously over it.

Sprinting past the two huntresses as they did battle in the narrow hallway only four faunus stood in his way. He could already hear the dying cries of their comrades; he would put them out of their misery. Allowing the shots they fired to connect with his aura, Augustus grunted as he felt the backlash of such fast moving objects slam into him. Closing the distance with minimal damage Augustus dodged a poorly made swipe at his head and instantly froze one of his four attackers into a solid block of ice.

His other three enemies were scrambling to discard their weapons and draw their blades. Wasting no time Augustus slammed his fist into the unarmored mouth of a White Fang member to his left and froze the creature's airways shut for good measure, though he doubted anyone's head could survive such a brutal landing with the marble floor. Ducking under a swing from behind that was aimed at his head Augustus drew his own blade and spun. In the blink of an eye blood poured from the foot soldier's stomach as he fell to the ground in shocked silence. The remaining terrorist was quick to drop her weapons and put her hands up in surrender.

The sounds of combat around him had ceased; Ruby and Blake had already finished off the other White Fang cannon fodder. A few seconds ticked by in silence before Augustus chambered red dust, pointed his rapier directly at the fugitives head, and blew it clean off. He would not regret killing this scum; never would he regret killing those who dared to attack his family.

Ignoring the shocked gasp from Ruby and glare from Blake Augustus once more sheathed his sword and sped off towards the stairwell. They needed to escape before the more trained and better equipped found them. Their luck held until they reached the roof, their transport was taking heavy fire from the multitudes of enemies that littered the black rooftop.

"Wait."

Ensuring the accompanying huntresses would remain by his side, Augustus chambered violet dust and fired four purple colored aura projectiles into the flanks of the groups. The more experienced fighters immediately turned to fire but already their lungs were black and liquefying. The White Fang members all collapsed as amber colored liquid poured from every orifice; it mattered not, their harrier was clear to land.

"Thanks for the save, moving to land now."

The group of three moved to the edge of the roof and waited for their ride to land, but already more fire was erupting from the courtyard and lawn below. They did not have any more time to spare. Blake had already anchored her weapon into the hull of the aircraft and was swinging over, however Ruby wasn't moving. Either she was out of rounds or it was too dangerous to fire her way in. Grabbing the red-caped child by her hood Augustus ignored her cries of protest as he jumped into the empty air between the ledge and the harrier. Glyph suddenly forming beneath his feet Augustus propelled himself and the huntress the few more meters they needed to cover and landed right on the edge of the bay doors.

"Brace yourselves!"

Augustus barely had time to register what he had heard before their escape craft lurched and began to spin. He only had time to see the sudden terror that filled his daughters icy eyes before he realized that he was no longer inside the blue colored craft and was rapidly falling to the ground. The harrier quickly righted itself and flew off; out of sight in seconds. Ruby must have attached herself via her scythe. He had neither the reaction time or means to prevent his expulsion from the craft.

With a sickening crack Augustus felt and heard himself crash into the ground. Luckily the cracking had been that of the earth beneath him and not his spine; not even aura could heal that in any small amount of time. Augustus hadn't the luxury of time though, he could already sense multiple enemies converging on the small crater his fall had formed.

He couldn't escape; he knew that well. It would be better to surrender and hope for the best, the most logical decision, one that would earn him some sympathy with the more empathetic terrorists. Augustus knew this, acknowledged this, but had already decided to fight to the end. Both as a Schnee and an enraged father he had an obligation to show these vermin that such actions would not go unpunished.

Removing himself from the cracked ground Augustus drew his rapier and got into his battle stance. His style differed greatly from Weiss's even though they had been trained by the same mentor. Weiss's goal was to outmaneuver and outsmart the enemy through rapid movement and use of dust in her glyphs. His fighting style focused on being an unmovable wall, the only times he moved back was when it was absolutely necessary. This resulted in him not being very mobile; he was best on the defense rather than offense. The hope was to catch any attackers in a close ranged counter attack or overpower them with the dust he could fire from his weapon.

With one hand behind his back and his fighting arm thrust out in-front of him Augustus bent his knees and assumed the classic dueling position as multitudes of grey armored terrorists surrounded him weapons drawn. One figure, however, stood out. He knew who it was due to the white and red ornate visor he wore. Adam Taurus; high level White Fang leader and one of the deadliest agents his men had yet to encounter.

His black overcoat made it harder for him to be detected in low-light environments. However his visor ruined that due to the red glow it gave off; he was obviously confident in his skills. The little he did know about him Augustus knew he had little chance of defeating him; the guy was a walking counter to how he fought.

"I'd rather not make this harder than needed. You're an intelligent man, you know you cannot possibly escape or win."

His voice betrayed his age; the White Fang leader was just barely out of his teens, but his arrogant and haughty tone grated on Augustus's nerves. The horrible thing about this was that he had the skills to back up his haughty approach to the world, his semblance more than made up for any lack in skill.

"I would rather die than submit myself to captivity by your hands."

"I was hoping you would say that."

Adam blurred before his eyes and Augustus just barely managed to parry his strike as he reappeared right in front of him. The faunus was fast, the fastest he had ever seen. Adam quickly blurred once more, this time appearing to Augustus's right, sword bearing down on the Schnee patriarchs shoulder. Twisting his body Augustus dodged the swing and counter-attacked; his rapier darted forth with lighting speed but only managed to hit empty air. Adam had already vanished from his sight.

Calling forth his aura Augustus began to coat the ground around him with ice; if Adam couldn't touch the ground then he would have a hard time attacking. Before even a foot around him could be covered Adam had already positioned himself right behind Augustus, with a soundless slash Adam attempted to carve into the back of Augustus. He only succeeded in throwing the rapier wielder off balance; the Schnee's aura was stronger than it looked.

Before he could use his semblance to once more move faster than the eye could see Adam felt his feet freeze over. He didn't need to look down to know what had just happened. Keeping his sword unsheathed the red-haired man blocked the rapid thrusts and slashes from his target. The Schnee was quick to counter, Adam would admit that much, but he was far to slow with his blade to block his own attacks. His sword a blur Adam thrust his blade right past Augustus's guard and into the gut of the Schnee head before slamming the other part of his weapon, Blush, into the white haired mans skull.

Augustus's aura held strong though; his will unyielding Augustus recovered in under a second and began to freeze the visor wearing faunus's body. The only thing preventing him from making him a block of ice was Adam's extremely strong and potent aura; it had been a struggle to even keep him in place for so long. Ice slowly making its way up the black pants of Adam, Augustus cycled to yellow and let loose three crackles of electricity at his opponent.

Adam blocked and absorbed the energy into his blade, Augustus's stunned expression lasted only as long as the ice at Adam's feet did. Pointing his red sword down the electricity that had once been hostile was now his ally, golden energy crackled forth and shattered the ice that licked at his knees and feet. The faunus wasted no time and quickly redirected his attack. Augustus was forced to waste more yellow dust to counter his own attack; the two bolts of gold met in a glorious yellow glow before both the attacks faded from existence.

Seeing Adam dash forward Augustus prepared himself for the duel of his life; he wasn't disappointed. Rapier and ninjatō clashed in a flurry of sparks as the two blade masters met head on in the ultimate test of swordsmanship. Each of Augustus's attacks was countered with ease and Adam's attacks were barely blocked in time; Augustus was outmatched completely. His only hope was to use his dust to outsmart his opponent.

Seeing Adam back off and sheathe his sword Augustus chambered green dust, the most corrosive thing in his arsenal, and coated his blade in the lethal substance. His weapon and dust were specially designed as to allow him to use the corrosive agent without worrying about destroying his own rapier. The only visible sign of this was a small, almost invisible green and blue glow being emitted from his blade.

Taurus sprinted towards him, this time not using his semblance, rapidly drew his ninjatō and swung. Augustus hardly had time to parry the first strike before another came, and then another! The only visible sign Adam's blade even existed was the red and black blur Augustus could barely make out. It seemed Adam had smothered his sword with his aura to try and counteract the decaying affects of his dust; smart, but utterly useless. His own aura usage countered Adam's, with every parry and block his adversaries blade dulled and weakened.

Ducking under a vicious strike from behind Augustus cycled his dust to red and charged his rapier with the volatile substance. He was running dangerously low on his corrosive agent; hopefully Adam was arrogant enough to fall for his makeshift plan. His aura was reaching critical levels and he had yet to even score a solid hit on the ninjatō user. Grasping the hilt of his sword with both hands Augustus turned to meet the predictable follow-up he was sure would come from his left. He wasn't wrong.

With a grunt of effort Augustus put all his strength into blocking the red ninjatō. The two blades met, the moment they met the volatile dust exploded, rocketing both combatants away from each other. The circle of White Fang grunts had long since grown in size and number, they knew not to interfere though, even with Augustus down and defenseless each knew what would happen should they try and capture the man without Adam's direct orders.

Forcing himself to stand, Augustus breathed heavy and allowed his left hand, his weapon wielding one, to become limp. His arms burnt in protest and his back ached, even with his channeling of aura to his front that explosion had really messed him up. Luckily no real damage had been done, the only physical affects he suffered was the ringing of his ears.

Adam, however, had not been prepared for the explosion and so came out with more than a few injuries; not all just to his person. The faunus's cloths were singed, his cheeks were mildly burned but were healing. The worst of the damage had been done to his arm and blade, he could no longer fight with his dominant hand, crippling his fighting style. However, Adam no longer had a ninjatō to fight with, he now held a broken blade. The top half had been severed in the explosion and now lay somewhere on the Schnee estate's lawn. He could no longer fight without risking killing Augustus.

An uncharacteristically angry scowl forming on his face, Adam gave the order to apprehend the Schnee patriarch with the wave of his hand. He had underestimated his opponent; he would not forget this embarrassment.

The many men and women of the terrorist organization that surrounded Augustus drew a multitude of close combat weaponry. Long swords, daggers, war hammers, anything the mind could think of. They would have shot their target had they not needed him alive. The first of many foolish souls rushed forward, war hammer held high and screaming as loud as her lungs would allow.

Augustus simply raised his rapier and fired a single red flare of dust at the charging faunus, the woman didn't have the skill needed to dodge. The projectile connected with her center, her body and armor flew apart in a brilliant display of fire and blood. They must have been low on quality materials and manpower if that was the standard. Augustus felt some pride in that thought; he was the one who had caused the White Fang to scrape the bottom of the barrel for resources after all.

All around Augustus battle cries were heaved and feet began to move. He was exhausted, but he would fight; he had to. Reaching out with his unarmed hand Augustus formed a large glyph in front of him and pushed it forward at blinding speeds; the faunus had no time to react. With those to in front of him disabled Augustus twisted and parried the multiple dagger strikes on his left and froze the enemy on his right. He was forced to use his hand to try and channel his semblance now.

Breaking through the guard of the dagger user Augustus slipped his blade into the mans unarmored throat and quickly pulled out, ignoring the desperate and dying gurgles of his previous attacker, the rapier wielder was forced to dodge the downward swing of another war hammer. Summoning an ice wall behind him to protect his flank Augustus cycled to yellow and charged his blade with whatever was left. There was no room for holding back, he would take these scum pay with their lives.

Rapier glowing Augustus let loose a deadly torrent of gold energy; hitting one man the crackling energy jumped to another, and another. and still another! The chain lightning spread through the grey armored ranks of terrorists and cut them down with brutal efficiency. Their untrained auras and out of date armor did little to prevent their nervous systems from being overwhelmed and their skin from burning. In three brutal seconds half of the White Fang force was reduced to smoking, chard, lifeless shells.

The smell of burnt flesh and metal slag gagged Augustus and his remaining opponents alike, but both pushed through the nauseating smell to finish what they had started. Augustus's ice wall only stalled his remaining enemies for a few seconds, they simply ran around it, but those precious seconds allowed him to steady himself for the next encounter.

Halting the sideways strike of a long-sword, Augustus struggled to keep the blade from crashing into his depleted aura. The only reason he had not run out long ago was due to the small amplifier attached to his hip. Shoving back his attackers blade he was forced to sidestep the downward swing of another sword while trying to parry a multitude of strikes from a dagger user. He hadn't the skill or energy to block them all; many of the small blades connected and further reduced his dwindling aura.

Not given a moment of rest, Augustus's face met a metal foot and he was careened into his own ice wall. Air leaving his lungs, Augustus hardly had time to look up and raise his weapon before he was set upon again. Body burning in effort and agony, the Schnee parried an attempt to chop him in half and thrust his blade right through the gut of his poorly armored attacker. The faunus had no hope of recovering, he would bleed out long before a medic would reach him.

Shoving the dying man off his downed form Augustus only had time to register the sudden appearance of Adam's visor before his vision was obscured by his gloved hand. Agony filling his senses, he hardly had time to realize his head was being smashed into his own ice before he lost consciousness and his world turned to black.

* * *

**You are safe my queasy people. For now.**

Aura users were blessed with many passive perks from having an aura capable of healing wounds; one of those perks was the ability to get drunk and not have a hangover the following day. While completely irrelevant when it came to his current predicament, it kept his mind working. Not long ago Augustus had awoken to the sight of metal walls, a bed, sink, and toilet all arranged neatly in their own corners. He was currently laying on said bed, though it was hard to get comfortable on it due to the utter lack of quality. How the lower classes ever fell asleep he would never know.

They had taken his scroll, that was the first thing he checked, and heavy aura suppression magic weighed down on his body. Aura suppression was a relatively new combat school and style, meaning it wasn't particularly effective yet. The only thing these limiters did was prevent him from using his semblance outside a foot wide radius. Other than that he remained unharmed; physically at least. Emotionally he was a wreak. How long until rescue arrived? Would it _ever _arrive? How long had he been out? What were they going to do to him? Torture? Interrogation? Was he to be used as a political pawn to negotiate with Schnee Dust?

Despite his skill with his rapier, which he would likely never see again, at least not the same one, Augustus was not a fighter. He sure as hell wasn't a lover either; no, he was a thinker, a manipulator, someone who preferred to work behind the scenes and pull the strings. The only reason he had been able to continue fighting like he had was due to his ability at numbing himself, stop himself from feeling emotion. It was the only way to appear genuine and happy at higher priority meetings; there was always someone plotting your downfall, everyone at those transactions knew as much, but the outward show of kindness and courtesy was what separated them from the barbaric masses. To pervert this tradition was to invite disaster.

Still, Augustus could only begin to guess at what they wanted with his scroll. There was so much stored on that thing it was irreplaceable, most of the files weren't backed up or even considered to exist, at least officially. They would never be able to break through the security programming, it was the best on the planet and none could ever hope to match it, even his own tech department couldn't crack it's self correcting and adapting code. The longer one tried to hack, the harder it would be to break in. Ingenious, really.

His thoughts were interrupted by the wall across from him opening up. The room had good lighting, it was all just very nauseating, he had no idea which way was which. Turning his head, Augustus gazed into the dark green eyes of one Roman Torchwick. He was wearing a red-collared white suit, something Augustus had to give him credit for, with a silky grey scarf tied round his neck. Generic black pants, black shoes, the only thing that really stood out was his black bowler hat with red running round the center. Those things had gone out of style ages ago, as had the whole 'cover part of your face with your hair' look. For someone so young he sure had an old taste in fashion. Roman's use of a cane only further proved his point.

A mocking smile soon appeared on the criminals face. "So, snowman-" ...really? "-you gave us quite the scare when that samurai wannabe brought you in with your head so banged up. We wouldn't want you forgetting anything important."

He was thoroughly unamused by this orange-haired clown. Snowman?! Who writes this stuff...

"What do you want? I can assure you that the Schnee family won't take this lightly, if you release me now you may still have a painless death."

Big, strong, yet hollow words. Both knew as much, Augustus could tell this man was reasonably intelligent, he was in no position to make threats.

"My, my, my. No need to be angry! That temper of yours will be oh so entertaining."

Augustus just stared blankly at Roman, completely unphased by his mocking demur.

A sigh. "You really are no fun. That icy daughter of yours is much more fun to play with. Even red, for as annoying as she is, can give me a laugh. But you, sir, suck the fun out of everything. Seriously, lighten up."

"I don't see how I can just 'lighten up' when I've been kidnapped by a terrorist organization and are being forced to listen to a horrid comedy routine."

"Did you just make a joke? My Gods, there is hope for you yet. Granted, it wasn't a very funny joke, but it was a joke none-the-less!"

"...You nicknamed me 'snowman'. I hardly think you have any right to judge anything when it comes to humor."

"I will admit, that wasn't one of my better ones, perhaps icy? Nah. Too generic...I'll think on it and get back to you."

Now it was his turn to sigh. "What do you want?"

Roman's casual air changed immediately. His green eye showed that he was serious now, it was time to get down to business. Swiping his hand over a small panel to his left, the door soundlessly slid shut.

"The cameras have no audio; nor are there any microphones in here. Listen, the person I'm taking orders from...she's insane. She and her White Fang associates want the codes to access the backdoor that is placed in every Schnee made electronic."

What?! How did they know of that? That was highly classified information, only the top family members knew it existed, with only himself knowing the code needed to access to entire security system. He had ordered it done as to allow his company to keep tabs on foreign governments, as well as to ensure none of their technology could be used against them. It was extremely dangerous to have, but it had paid off in the past. It was how they had maneuvered perfectly to avoid possible conflicts with foreign governments and their interests. Ensuring open trade within most countries and Kingdoms around the world.

"How do you know this?"

He did not need to ask why Roman was telling him these things, he could guess as to just why the cane using man would betray his apparent employers. Roman was a criminal, a dust smuggler and illegal substance dealer. He had no interest in bringing his company and the world to its knees. If anything that would stifle his business.

"There is a traitor in your family, Augustus, she told us of the backdoor. How to infiltrate your estate; everything we needed to know she provided. I know not her name, otherwise I would tell you."

"I can only imagine what these scum would do should they get their hands on this..."

"Precisely, I just want to steal dust, sell some drugs, be a pimp. Ya know, live the criminal lifestyle! Instead I've been rounded into these insane plots of world domination by some washed-up huntress who thinks she can bully me around. The bitch."

Roman must be bipolar, one second he resumed using his mocking, fun loving voice, only to switch right to a dark, angry, almost growl at the end. All the while he was waving his cane around like a toy, the guy was a man-child. But he had a head on his shoulders; the collapse of Schnee Dust would not bode well for Vale, they owned almost all industry. People with no money couldn't buy smuggled dust or illicit drugs, among other things, and with the hostage holding power his employers would have they would practically own the Kingdom. Roman had no interest or place in this plan, his 'dream' of being a criminal would never be achieved.

"I'm assuming you have some plan then?"

"Not in the slightest. I only came to tell you what I know, after this I will not be able to assist you."

Roman became deathly, uncharacteristically serious at that moment.

"This huntress, the one who thinks she can control me...she plans on weaponizing the grimm. We are using the dust we steal to fund and power her projects, I believe she plans on trying to control the world through the use of grimm, starting with this Kingdom."

"You can't be serious..."

This was far beyond anything Augustus ever wanted to be involved in; all he wanted to do was make money and better humanity in the process. Now he was being dragged into some shadow conflict, one that could spell disaster for the human race. Was this woman mad?! The grimm would never be tamed! She was going to damn the billions of souls of humans on Remnant!

"I'm afraid so...I've killed people before, ordered horrid things to be done, but this...this is far beyond me. I still have some humanity left in me, I cannot stand by and watch as millions upon millions are devoured for this woman's ambitions. Nothing good can come from the experiments we run. I'm also afraid to announce that our time here is coming to a close. My employer is going to personally interrogate you, and I do not think I can bear to watch another. May the Gods, if they do exist, have mercy on you."

Giving Augustus a nod, Roman left, leaving him to stare in shock at the grey metal walls around him. What had he been dragged into?

* * *

It wouldn't be long now, Roman had said this huntress was coming to interrogate him for the information she needed. Augustus was going to have to play this carefully; he couldn't afford to let any information loose that he should not know. Roman may prove to be a useful ally if he ever got out of this place. Even if he was a criminal, the guy still had some semblance of humanity inside him. The real question was why the White Fang, or what was left of them, were allowing themselves to be used as they were.

He never heard the door open, but Augustus did hear the clacking of glass heels on metal. Glancing over, Augustus came face to face with the infamous 'employer' who wanted to rule the world through grimm. The woman before him was attractive, with a crimson dress hugging her figure, showing off her curves and her shoulders laid bare for the world to see. Flowing black hair reached down to below her shoulder blades and framed a heart shaped face, satin lips and delicate eyebrows. However, the most noticeable aspect of her person was her eyes, they were a mix between yellow and orange, a curious color. Had it not been for the madness and malicious intent behind those orbs he would have called them beautiful.

The two stared each other down, both knowing that they were the others opposite. Cinder may be mad, but Augustus knew she must be extremely intelligent to have come this far and gone under everyone's radar, including his own, while finding people willing to further her ambitions. He wanted to help humanity move forward when he made a profit, she wanted to rule over humanity through force, there was no philanthropy in her philosophy or agenda.

"Augustus Schnee, patriarch of the Schnee family and head of The Schnee Dust Company. Hopefully all the trouble it was to get you alive is well worth it." Dismissive would be the best way to describe how Cinder talked, as though everything would eventually be as she wanted, no matter what anyone did.

"What do you want?" She didn't flinch when Augustus tried to intimidate her with his deep, cold, almost booming voice. The woman knew he had no power here.

"I'm sure you know about a little hack you installed into every Schnee made electronic." Cinder pulled out his scroll. "I want the codes to access the network. Your scroll's security protocols are beyond these vermin's current ability to hack."

Narrowing his eyes, Augustus stood up from the bed and tried to decipher what was going through this woman's mind. He needed her to believe he didn't know anything, was ignorant of her plans.

"How do you know of this?"

"How do you think Ozpin knew about your capabilities? You are not the only one capable of gathering intelligence."

"Even so..." Augustus clasped his hands behind his back, the longer he could keep this civil the longer a rescue team had of reaching him before things became unpleasant. "That information is especially sensitive. Anyone could guess that we could access government files. Though, how did you know Ozpin knew of this? And that he mentioned it to me?"

"I used to be his partner there; Goodwich replaced me after I left."

Cinder pointedly ignored his last question.

"Why are you answering my questions?"

"There isn't much someone of your caliber can't find out. Enough foreplay; give me the codes to unlock this contraption and to access your network."

"You know I cannot do that."

"A pity..." Cinder, surprisingly, did seem legitimately saddened by his refusal. "I respect you and your family Augustus, don't make me do this."

"I am not forcing you to do anything; it will be your own decision to do what you will."

"I hoped that, if anyone could, you would understand. I'm sure you know by now that I wish to assert my dominance over people. Why can't humanity flourish under my rule? Why can't a united humanity be a better one?"

"The killing of millions will never result in a united humanity. People will never be united, it's unfortunate that wars exist, but it is simply in our nature to compete."

"I can change that."

"You're delusional. You will never rule."

In under a second Augustus felt a splintering agony spread through his body. Cinder's flaming fist was driven right into his gut, causing spittle and blood to come from his mouth. Before he could recover, the huntress slammed the elbow of her other arm into the top of his head. Face colliding with the cold metal floor, Augustus looked into the fiery eyes of Cinder Fall. In that moment, for all his pride, all his arrogance, his stubbornness, Augustus felt true fear paralyze him.

"You will wish to have never been born." Cinder's deathly calm whisper sent shivers up his spine, but it was the fire covered hand that grasped his head that caused Augustus to lose all hope of leaving this place in one piece.

For all Augustus's talk of being strong, of having an unyielding will and unbreakable body, of being a Schnee, a superior, a better, nothing stood in the way of Cinder when she picked him up with a single arm and threw him into the cell walls. His aura protected him from much of the damage, but it still hurt like hell due to Cinder injecting her own aura into her strike. Not giving the defenseless Schnee a moment of respite, Cinder began to pound on the man with all her might.

When a fist connected with his nose and broke it, he did not scream.

When his head was slammed into the metal walls, he did not make a sound.

When his aura shattered and his ribs broke, Augustus stood strong and refused to give in.

It was when he saw Cinder reach down with flaming hands and sear through his bloody t-shirt did Augustus realize just how beat he was. His torso was covered in black and blue bruises, he could feel his face swelling as blood dribbled from his nose and mouth. One of his legs was certainty broken; multiple ribs were broken or fractured.

When Cinder dug her hands into his skin and burned his flesh, he unraveled. He finally screamed.

* * *

**Well...that was one hell of a way to end a chapter. I again apologize for the long update time but...this is a sold 7k words here, the biggest chapter outside of the grimm invasion. Writing and editing this to the best of my ability is haaaaaard! Especially the editing. It's such a chore sometimes. **

**Now, Augustus having glyph abilities does not mean he has two semblances. Rather, he can use glyphs much like Goodwich can. She used a purple one to shield Ruby, even though her semblance is not glyphs, if it was then semblances are not unique to people. I interpret Weiss's semblance as having the ability to naturally form and manipulate glyphs without learning the actual art of doing glyph making; basically she will always be better than any learned glyph user and be able to use them easier, quicker, and more efficiently. **

**So, who saw this happening? Roman not evil? Hmmmmm? Anyway, any questions or concerns with my characterization and verse review or PM. I am always eager to get feedback, though I may get defensive. As one of my reviewers learned, I tend to jump to conclusions. Thanks to all of you who have read up to this point, it means the world to me. **


	18. Rescue

**AN: Only thing this time is the announcement of a new...feature? At the end of every chapter there will be a 'log' of sorts to further develop this verse; it's world building. If later on in the story you ever have an issue with how things work and it's mentioned or explained in these logs I will simply tell you to read the end of the chapters. Willing ignorance has always aggravated me.**

**On that note, got some bad news. With the summer 'break' coming up my 18 year old ass has been recruited into the horde of teens working at Hershey Park. They have me working 8-14 hour shifts, usually back-to-back, so I'll close then wake up at 5 AM to open the next day. Not fun. So updates will be sporadic after this... Hopefully you all understand, but it's hard to write QUALITY material and edit it when you come home from working in a hot, greasy, unappreciative place. I want to do nothing more than shower and sit in my comfy chair and play Europa Univerasalis IV or Crusader Kings II, great games. Great Games. I ramble. Onto the fun! **

A Different Perspective

_Time: 2400 hours_

_Location: Vale Airspace, Outskirts of Okinawa Settlement_

_Ensign: "Tiger" _

_First Lieutenant William K. Smith, Downfall Response Team_

"Last second run down. Unknown amount of hostiles, assume civilian populace to be armed until proven otherwise. No rules of engagement. We will be let down 2 clicks from the target area. Satellite imaging shows a campsite or outpost at the location the distress signal is coming from. Any questions?"

None in his twenty man squad uttered a word. Good. He would not tolerate stupidity or moral objection from any aboard the aircraft. They were the best their mercenary organization had to offer, the only exception being the medic who was quickly conscripted once the SOS reached command. She hadn't the backbone to stand up to him or the people under his command.

"Good. Now get ready, ETA is ten minutes."

His team was made up of three snipers, two heavy ordinance specialists, two explosives specialists, three heavy weapons operators, and the rest were general infantry. He didn't really count the medic, she wasn't combat able. They had the best weaponry and armor available; nothing was going to stop them.

Instead of the normal blue coloring most Schnee mercs wore they had camouflaged colored armor, blotches of black, brown and green covered each member. Each member, outside of the specialists, were armed with the Shredder MK-III, the most recent update to the Schnee arsenal. It had the capability to burn through almost every metal with concentrated laser fire, while also increasing battery life and reducing thermal signature while at rest.

The sniper team was equipped with the infamous Euryale sniper rifle. They would be dropped off on a mountain range not too far from their target. The heavy ordinance guys carried the Shredder for regular warfare, but also carried a Punisher rocket launcher. The thing could take out a Sabertooth with three shots, and that was no easy feat. Heavy Weapons held the only bullet firing weaponry in the entire squad. Lasers just did not have the stopping power a bullet did. They were armed with the AR-17 assault rifle, which was capable of penetrating infantry armor, and carried the parts necessary to assemble the feared .70 caliber heavy machine gun. It's official name being the Kratos Heavy Machine Gun. They called it the Big Fucking Gun, BFG for short.

The explosives guys were there to make things go boom.

"Touchdown in one minute."

"Here we go. Radio silence until the sniper team is in position."

Camouflaged metal suits of armored men and woman stood, twenty-one total, and readied to execute the operation they were hired to do. The metal ramp of the harrier came down and seventeen specially trained mercenaries officially began their hunt. Securing the landing zone, the mercs activated their night vision and scanned the area. Clear of hostiles, the men and women of Phoenix Mercenary Inc. moved into the dark forest and began their hike to the White Fang stronghold.

* * *

"Ensign 'Bobcat' active. Jammer online, no signals are getting in or out. They won't be getting any reinforcement."

"Roger, you have eyes on the settlement?"

Stepping over another large log, William and his men were closing on the small town that was made up of foreigners. They were to eliminate any and all threats and then move on the outpost. He didn't need to wait long for the mechanical, robotic, and emotionless voice on the other end to respond.

"Yes, but...it's a ghost town. We have nothing on thermal, not even any animals. Caution advised."

"Roger, we should be in your scopes soon enough. Go loud if anything pops up."

Guns raised, the mercenary team swiftly moved through the silent forest. Nothing stirred, not even a cricket chirped. Reaching the tree-line the lieutenant held up a closed fist, immediately everyone stopped.

"Grizzle, take point. Switch to thermal."

HUD switching to thermal, William saw exactly what 'Bobcat' meant. It didn't look like anyone had been here in many months. There were no signs of life, not even a raccoon. His point moved forward with ten others following, the rest stayed with him and stuck to the tree line, spreading out to cover their comrades should anything appear. According to the mini-map in the corner of his HUD this town wasn't far from the compound, were the civilians taken?

"There's nothing here sir, dead as dead can be."

"Check again."

Something wasn't right here. At least three-hundred Easterners had inhabited this town, where had they all gone?

"Still nothing."

"'Bobcat', any movement?"

"None."

His gut was screaming at him to run from this place, run far, far away and never return. But, he had a mission to do, they had to save their employers life. To betray their word was to sentence their organization to death, only trustworthy mercenary groups were hired. Those who went back on their word were almost never hired again.

"...Regroup in the center of town, begin analyzing the compound's defenses."

"Roger."

"Acknowledged."

This time more relaxed, the men and women on the ground allowed their weapons to hang by their straps and reunited in the center of the unlit and lifeless town. Their sniper team was busy taking in all the target's defenses and transmitting the information to their HUDs. Seeing the information flood in, William began to form an attack plan.

The White Fang compound was in an easily defensible position, with it being situated in thick brush and being situated at the foot of a large hill. A cliff protected the back of the compound, with guard towers being put around the perimeter of the base. At least fifty White Fang members patrolled the area, not counting the two per guard tower. In total they were dealing with sixty six men and no signs of armor of any kind. They had the advantage of knowing where each member was and the element of surprise, this would be easier than expected.

"'Bobcat', you will take out the towers on top of the cliff on my signal. Ordinance, you and two others will go around the left flank, followed by the explosives team and another two, you eight are responsible for covering that side. Heavy Weapons, you will be taking a hike, we need you on this cliff to rain down hell-fire on these guys. The rest of you will be with me, we will be taking out the right side of the base. Remember, we need to find and secure a VIP, do not, under any circumstances, blow or fire into any of the structures or tents. Clear?"

Getting affirmatives from everyone, William turned his attention to the medic of the group. She was not to be in any combat. Gently grasping her shoulder, he held her back as the other moved through the town and towards their assigned positions.

"We need you for the VIP; you are not to get near the combat zone. Do we have an understanding?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Good, you'll be on my side. Just stay behind our lines and you should be okay."

Moving on, William ran to catch up with his men and unshouldered his weapon. The camp wasn't more than 500 meters away from the town. From the information that had been crammed into their heads faunus had natural night vision and enhanced hearing. They were going to have to be extremely careful.

* * *

Getting into position had been quite the challenge. With seemingly experienced members patrolling the area they had almost been discovered multiple times. The only thing that prevented their discovery were likely their suits, no sound escaped their helmets. Meaning they could breathe as heavy as they want and talk as loud as they want, they would never be heard.

The medic was off somewhere behind them, waiting for the enemies to be dealt with. The team was currently waiting on the Heavy Weapons team to get into position; once they were at their assigned location things could officially underway.

"BFG ready to rain down the hurt. Waiting on your signal boss."

"'Bobcat, you ready to fire?"

"Ready when you are."

"'Night Hawk', any unusual air signatures?"

"None, sir."

His gut was still nagging at him to leave, hence why he was double checking everything. It was now or never though, no more hesitation.

"Take the shots."

Two more seconds passed, then the silence was broken by three thunderous booms, followed by the sounds of multiple explosions. Springing up from their positions on the ground, William and his eight squad mates opened fire on the passing group of four hostiles. They never stood a chance. Multiple blue flashes were the poor soldiers only warning before their auras were shattered and their bodies pierced by blue bolts of energy. No blood fell, the wounds were cauterized upon impact, but their metal armor was now useless metal slag.

Sprinting past the four bodies, William and his team ran from the shelter of the tree line and sprinted towards the metal fencing that surrounded the compound. Pulling out an unlabeled can, William sprayed a green corrosive agent in a circle on the metal fence. Waiting a few precious seconds, he pulled and immediately the fence gave way. Upon entering the sounds of gunshots echoed across the camp, though not at them.

Weapons raised, his team imminently took cover behind a nearby concrete building. Signaling for half to keep moving deeper into the small camp, he and three others placed two small squares on the wooden door leading into the building. Counting to three, the moment he hit three the two squares exploded, causing the door to become splinters.

The four commandos rapidly rushed into the opening, soon meeting the faces of five stunned and disoriented faunus. Without a moments hesitation the four Schnee mercenaries opened up on the dazed hostiles, blue flashes from the muzzles being the only indication that they were even firing. Three fell instantly, their skulls and brain matter burnt to a crisp. The other two were able to draw their pistols and get a few shots off, the few that did hit bounced off their aura and armor.

Gunning down the remaining two enemies, Smith and his team rapidly made their way through the building, keeping their guard up the entire time. It took only thirty seconds to breach the camp and clear the first building. They were well worth the money.

Suddenly the gunshots that echoed through the compound were interrupted by the loud thumping of the BFG. Wordlessly the team exited and ran through the courtyard, the enemies on their minimaps vanishing as the rest of his team slaughtered the inferiorly trained, equipped, and experienced White Fang defenders.

Seven blips suddenly appearing to their right, the four commandos spun and crouched, waiting for the enemy to come round the corner. They didn't have to wait long. Allowing four of the seven to turn the corner, the Schnee mercenaries opened fire on the terrorists. Two fell, the other two only got the raise their assault rifles before their armor was turned to slag and melted into their skin. They didn't live long.

"Jon, Elyse, flank left."

The two armored mercs immediately stood and moved to execute their orders. Through the night vision he saw an outdated rifle being readied to blind fire around the corner. They could take many bullets, but it was best not to tempt fate. Laying down, William and his remaining comrade withered the inaccurate storm. Returning fire but unable to suppress the enemy, one of the few major disadvantages of having laser based weaponry.

A sudden explosion silenced the gunfire, the only remaining enemies were scattered and routing. All they had to do was clear out the buildings and escort their VIP offsite.

"Sir, we found something...you may want to take a look."

"Gimme a second."

Moving to the location that pinged on his map, William found the two demolition guys standing over a metal hatch. This did not look promising.

"Don't tell me...this leeds deep underground?"

"You know it. I knew this was too easy. Splice or destroy?"

Even though they had the best explosives humanity had to offer, he still preferred to use the best electronic warfare tech available. Much more covert.

"Splice it. Hopefully our VIP is above ground..."

Five minuets later and he had his answer. All hostiles eliminated and no sign of the Schnee head. The only good news was that they had acquired a map of the underground complex...it was rather large. At least they knew where to go. A larger team would have to clear it later.

"'Bobcat, call in more men...they are going to have to clear this underground facility. We will be going for extract only."

"Roger that. Making the call now."

It would take at least an hour to get more troops organized and mobilized. Every second counted here, the longer they lingered the less likely Augustus was to be found alive.

"Medic, get your ass up here. We are going underground." The woman's name was classified; all of theirs were. He only knew his comrade's names due to knowing them for years. With a small click the metal square opened. Looking down the dark hole William had to suppress a sigh. The ladder was so damn long. Unhooking a flare from his utility belt, William lit the black device and dropped it down the square hole...it was really, really long.

"That seems a bit excessive..."

"Get moving, we don't have long if anyone up here managed to warn them."

"Yeah yeah..."

Watching the first of his seventeen man team start the climb down, William spun to meet the gaze of the medic they had conscripted.

"You will be in the middle of all of us. Should we come under fire do not panic, simply get down and stay down. We will handle the rest. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good...looks like your next."

Watching in mild amusement, William witnessed the 'highly trained and professional' Schnee mercenaries whine and cry about climbing down a bloody ladder. Sometimes is team was brilliant, most of the time they were the best of the best...other times they could be a bunch of idiots. This situation was solidly in the latter of the two.

Shouldering his own weapon, the lieutenant descended into the dark depths of the underground facility. Why were there no lights?

* * *

"This place is fucking dead."

"Sir, with all due respect. This is some bullshit."

"Why are there no lights? Did we hit a generator?"

"Would you people be quiet! Trying to listen to some music here."

"Andrew! Turn that shit off! We are on a MISSION! Same goes to the rest of you idiots. Shut-up and focus."

Content with the grumbles he received in response, William and his team activated the lights on their helmets and guns. The tall, narrow metal hallway was washed in synthetic light. What they found did not bode well for them.

"You have got to be kidding..."

Splattering the passageway was blood, fresh blood, and a single arm. A single god-damned arm. Why did they always get the shitty assignments?

"Form up. Standard formation, medic in the middle. We are going directly to the holding cells, finding the VIP, retrieving the intel, and then getting out of here ASAP."

Sixteen affirmative responses later and the seventeen man team was moving, weapons drawn and at the ready, through the gods forsaken facility. Three men took point, another three covered the rear. The rest moved in pairs of twos between the pairs of three, each had five feet separating them. The only lone one in the entire group was the medic, who was at the center of the column. William was point man, leading the elite mercenaries to their goal with disciplined haste. They needed to get out of here.

With every corner he rounded more blood and bodies, or body parts, were found. The bodies and the parts that may or may not belong to said bodies all had bite and claw marks, an obvious sign of large organic creatures. Surely the White Fang hadn't fallen that far, had they?

Turning left, William came face to face with what he feared the White Fang had done. A large Beowolf was hunched over the body of some faunus, eating a limb of some kind. But, this was no normal Beowolf. Before him was an _armored _Beowolf. Its arms and legs were covered in the grimm's signature white bone armor, with a small, visor like armor covering its eyes. With speed a creature that size shouldn't posses, it turned on the troopers and dashed at them, claws drawn back and ready to mutilate.

Immediately blue flashes filled the brightly lit hallway; their laser rounds burned into the flesh and bone of the grimm, but their weapons were made to combat _humans. _ Needless to say the creature brushed off most of the blows, only a few managed to do serious damage, but it was enough to slow the grimm down long enough for William and his two fellow point men to draw their foot long knives. Each shouldered their gun right before the grimm slammed into the man to his left, pinning the merc to the grey wall. Turning its back on the others would prove to be its final mistake. Without a moments hesitation the two point men drove their blades deep into the skull and neck of the beast. Needless to say it didn't live for much longer after that.

"I say again. This is some bullshit."

"As adorable as your coping mechanism is, we don't have time for it. We need to move. Double time it!"

Without another word the Schnee mercenaries sprinted through the facility, ignoring all the broken bodies, doors, and machinery that greeted them at every turn. Thankfully they encountered no more grimm on their journey to the holding cells. As unlikely as Augustus's survival was, they still had to check. Schnee Dust recorded every OP with cameras in their helmets, failure to deliver said video was a violation of contract. The rest was easy to deduce.

Head on a swivel, William and his men looked around the now, thankfully, open holding area. The room was a square, with multiple hidden doors indicating multiple holding cells. All were still sealed shut. The only other entryway was another narrow hallway directly opposite of them; the map they had indicated that this was at the center of the facility.

"Avery, Andrew, get to cutting through the first door on the left. Heavy weapons, setup at where we just came from. One of you get to lighting this hellhole up, I want the rest of you to cover the other entryway. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, gets through."

Without a word his commandos went to work. In under a minute the grey metal walls were revealed through the glow of multiple blue glow sticks, the BFG was set up, and the other entrance was covered. If only it were truly that easy.

"We still need to get the intel. Aron, you're with me, the rest of you hold this position until the VIP is secure and safe for transport. Grizzle, you are now the commanding officer. Don't make me regret this."

The faint ping of the SOS signal was only a couple hundred feet away. As short as the distance was anything could happen in that time. In sync the two commandos swiftly made their way down the narrow, dark, and bloody hallways. Weapons at the ready, William and his comrade deftly turned another corner and found what they were looking for. Among many chard and burnt husks of grimm and man alike a Schnee made scroll with a cracked screen illuminated the small room. This was simply another small outpost like room that diverged into three other ways of travel. They had yet to look inside any of the rooms that littered the halls.

Waving his longtime friend forward, William covered Aron as he picked the burnt flesh and bone away from the scroll. This was one of the many times he thanked whoever designed these suits for their foresight. Having air filtration was a gift from the Gods.

Seeing sudden movement, William snapped his rifle towards the figure emerging from the bodies and nearly gunned the thing down before the sound of a human voice came through his suit's speakers.

"Wait! Don't shoot!"

Staying his finger, William continued to keep his sights trained on the now very human figure of a female faunus. She lacked any indication of being a White Fang soldier, no armor or weaponry, and did not have the insignia anywhere on her person. Even the most covert operatives had the infamous symbol somewhere on their person.

"Pat her down, if she resists don't hold back."

Just barely seeing Aron secure the scroll in a built-in compartment, William waited as his comrade searched the lab-coat wearing faunus for any weapons. William knew exactly what this person was here for, knew just what these fools had tried to do. They were not the first, nor would they be the last. He was tempted to end her miserable life here, but the Lieutenant restrained himself. They would need to know just what they had done to these grimm in order to make countermeasures.

Getting the all clear from his comrade, William stopped aiming his gun at the female. She was no longer a threat. However, the sound of claws racking across metal most definitely signaled a coming threat. The terrifying sound reverberated off the walls, chilling him to the bone. The creatures were closing in on all sides. They had to move.

"Pick her up! We don't have time to waste!"

Waiting for Aron to shoulder their new charge, William continued to cover his comrade. Head on a swivel, his light illuminated the three different passageway in search of any targets. None showed, only the echoing sounds of their approach could be heard. Seeing his subordinate begin his sprint back the way the came, a very terrified faunus screaming the entire way, the commander was quick to follow.

Running as fast as their enhanced suits could carry them, the thudding of their footsteps drowned out the shrieks of the scientist on Aron's armored shoulder. The scraping of claws on metal was getting closer, only the sound was now complimented with the bloodthirsty growls of the things that pursued them. Pulling a small metal sphere off his utility belt, the lieutenant pressed in the top of the sphere, turning it red, and waited for the pulsing to begin. In two seconds the light began to pulse, getting faster and faster as the seconds ticked by. Rounding a corner, William dropped the flashing red ball.

Three seconds later an explosion rocked the compound and fire licked at his back. His aura prevented the flames from reaching the female, but from her sudden shielding of her face he could tell the heat still got through. The growls had stopped, but the grating sound of those claws remained.

"Be advised, we are coming up on your position. Hold your fire."

Eight double clicks over the radio told him that they received and acknowledged his command. The incendiary grenade should keep them back long enough, though from the thick, black smoke that was going over their heads and choking the scientist it was evident that it wasn't his best choice in which munition to use.

Rounding the final turn, the two soldiers thundered down the thirty meter corridor in no time. Slowing to a lazy jog for the last few feet, the duo moved past the formation of guns and armor that would prevent anything, be it human or grimm, from getting through. Ordering the medic to deal with the captured terrorist, William retook command of his team.

Two of the five cell doors were cut open, with the third one nearly done. Eight men, now nine, were covering the way they had just come from while the three heavy weapons guys and the two explosives experts covered their exit. He would soon be joining the nine man formation once he politely asked the scientist a few questions.

Crouching down next to their medic, who had given the faunus one of their many spare respirators, William looked directly at the scientist in an attempt to intimidate her. From her now very obvious shaking and the slight whimper she gave off, it worked perfectly. Blue flashes indicated that the grimm had gotten through the fire and were now bearing down on them. He didn't have much time.

"What did you do to these grimm?"

"I-We-They modified their genes! We enhanced their a-armor, speed, a-and strength. That's all I know! P-Please don't hurt me!"

"We won't...but I can't guarantee the rest of Schnee Dust will be so merciful. Be on your best behavior and I may vouch for you."

"Thank you! I-"

The sudden thundering of the .70 cal caused the faunus to stop and curl up in pain. Thinking fast, their medic rapidly retrieved two sets of ear plugs and shoved them into the woman's ears. Thankfully their suits muffled the sound as to ensure their ears remained undamaged. The sound of that weapon in an enclosed environment was enough to deafen most.

Knowing any further conversation was pointless, the commander assumed his position at the back of the now ten man formation. Five crouched in the front, five standing behind them. Seeing the chard remains of a few Beowolves, the team leader knew well that they had much, much more fighting ahead of them.

"These grimm have enhanced speed, agility, strength, and armor. Do not let them get close."

Seeing another blasted wolf come into the killing corridor, the team ruthlessly opened fire. The thin beams of energy drilled into the armor and flesh of the beast, cauterizing its internal organs and withering away its armor. Alone these things still stood no chance against concentrated laser fire. It was the only good news they had gotten so far in this entire OP.

The thundering of the .70 cal stopped, leaving the surrounded mercenaries in utter silence. The calm before the storm, this battle was far from over, it had only just begun.

A spine chilling howl shattered the silence, what followed caused even the most battle hardened of the team to shudder. An endless wave of grimm charged the human held position, the rapid, nonstop thudding of the BFG signaled the beginnings of a battle none would soon forget. His own side opening up, the thirty meter long hallway was turned into a shooting gallery as Beowolf after Beowolf flooded into the narrow corridor.

For every beast that fell another took it's place, the black and white horde was endless! Thin beams burned the skin of the grimm and pierced their flesh, but the unfeeling creatures of darkness paid their wounds and comrades little mind. Clawed feet crushed the remains of their fellows in a desperate attempt to kill the humans that dared to enter their abode, their territory.

The beasts were getting closer, for all the lethality and endless rain of laser fire the commandos put down range the grimm were slowly encroaching on their position. They wouldn't be able to hold.

"Oh shit...MEDIC! We need a medic!"

Turning his head for a single second to see what had happened, William had to repress the urge to stare. There, on the ground with earplugs being quickly jammed into his ears, was Augustus Schnee, but nobody would recognize the bloody and bruised man as the once powerful and unyielding Schnee patriarch. Scraps of his shirt were haphazardly wrapped around his torso in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Ribs were obviously broken, legs likely broken, as was his nose. That was all he could gather from his quick glance. That and that they had a traitor in their midst.

Adam Taurus was crouched over the beaten man with plugs of his own trying to help the panicked medic in any way he could. William wasn't about to complain about such a lethal man joining them, if he wanted them dead they already would be. Though this defection was a curious one, intel had him pinged as a fanatic, perhaps they were wrong?

No matter, the horde was getting close. The .70 cal easily mowed down the grimm, their weapons...not so much. Feeling another body join the firing line, William just barely made out the visor covered face of Adam before the ex-White Fang member grabbed the sheath on his waist, transformed it into a rifle of some sort, and fired an aura enhanced shot downrange. The effect was instantaneous.

A regular rifle round could penetrate deep into a Beowolf's skull, only larger bullet types or sniper rounds could penetrate the armor of large grimm, enchanting a round with aura changed everything. For one it drastically increased the penetrating power of the bullet, and, depending on the skill of the one firing, could be triggered to explode manually. Adam was more than skilled enough to do both of those masterfully.

The round was followed by a black after-affect, one their lights brilliantly showcased, and powered right through the heads of the first five grimm. After it embedded itself deeply into to skull of the sixth, a brilliant explosion of black threw the grimm in the corridor back and nearly caused he and his team to stumble. Once again these combat suits were a saving grace.

The commandos didn't waste the opportunity given to them, with more breathing room and time to think their hands steadied and minds cleared. With expert precision and renewed spirits the mercenaries massacred the fallen grimm in seconds. Adam had saved their lives without a doubt. He wouldn't soon forget this.

"We can move when ready. A-VIP is ready for transport."

It was about damn time.

"Disconnect the BFG. Leave the rest."

Hearing the thooming stop for but a few seconds, which was replaced by the other kinetic weaponry the two remaining heavy weapons members had, William signaled for the rest of his team to slowly withdraw. They wouldn't be able to move quickly due to slow movement of their lead. With the robotic enhancements they could carry up to 500 pounds with little problem, it was just hard to fire a super-heavy machine gun on the move.

Taking up the rear of their formation (which was once more standard, three point three in back, the rest between) William unhooked two metal spheres from his utility belt and rolled them into the room they had just occupied. The pulsing balls of light exploded just as the first of many more of the accursed wolves came barreling towards him. The beast vanished in the ball of flame that followed.

"Night Hawk, be ready for a hot extraction. We have an overwhelming number of hostiles bearing down on us. Be advised, none are human."

"...Received. Informing HQ of grimm presence. Status of VIP?"

The medic answered for him. "Critical condition. Needs immediate evac."

"Roger...extermination team will be here within the hour. We are to leave Bobcat to observe."

"Copy, ETA five minutes."

"Good luck."

Radio going dead, the team leader and his two subordinates opened fire on the first of many targets that entered their target zone. The never ending booming of gunfire from the front of the column told him that they were still engaged. Just how many grimm were being kept down here?

The grueling grind to get to the ladder was a hard fought battle, but thankfully it seemed the grimm had decided to back off for now. Though all the doors that were previously shut were now thrown open, at least they knew where the fuckers came from. Luckily for them, the hallway that lead to the ladder was wider than the others, why he had no clue, but he was not going to complain. Now they could bring all their firepower to play...outside of explosives.

But it seemed that they wouldn't have to fire another shot. After setting up their .70 cal and getting into formation not a single grimm came. After the first, second, third...even to the last man to leave, which was him of course, they never saw another grimm. While anti-climatic, it was unusually smart for the normally dumb beasts. They knew the grimm were there, they heard them the entire time, claws hitting metal and growls echoing off walls, but the creatures seemed to have had enough fighting, and that was NOT a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

* * *

_Schnee Dust Company Weapons Research File #5523, Priority 3 clearance needed for access._

_..._

_Access Granted_

Aura Mechanics and their Relation to Current Schnee Weaponry

The current mythology of the West is that aura is the manifestation of ones soul, while the East has a more varied view on aura they will not be covered in this file. If you wish to review said beliefs please refer to _General Information File # 5567 _for an in depth analysis on the origins of the mythology of the Eastern states. That being said, we have yet to find anything in humans or animals that create this aura. Recent grimm samples have yet to show any lack of an organ or blood that could explain the species lack of aura. Until further tests on Grimm and Human subjects can be conducted and the human genome mapped we cannot come to any definitive conclusion on just what aura is or where it originates from. If you wish to see the test results please refer to the _Project Supremacy_ files. Priority 2 clearance is needed.

Aura is capable of blocking all kinds of outside stimuli, this includes wind, temperature, and UV rays from the sun. It is especially efficient in the use of deflecting kinetic energy while less so in blocking or deflecting pure energy, such as a laser. Experiments on plasma weaponry are promising, though are currently incomplete. Aura levels, if not sustained, are minimal. This is likely due to the physical exhaustion aura usage causes the user, again, why users feel any sort of physical muscle strain or exhaustion has yet to be concluded. Aura is also capable of getting 'surprised' or overwhelmed; many test subjects have had damage done to them through sudden application of both kinetic of energy based weaponry. This means that aura is not independent of the human body or senses, hopefully this is a sign that something somewhere in the body is making this barrier.

The most curious aspect of aura is the healing factor; aura is capable of passively and actively healing both the user and other aura users around them. Physical contact is needed to transfer or 'share' aura for healing, further supporting our current hypothesis on where aura originates. This hypothesis is -_retracted-_. No matter what we may think we know, we should be prepared to be proven otherwise. The healing factor of aura is far from negligible; it is capable of rapidly healing grievous wounds and mending broken bones if set correctly. This rapid cell regeneration is not seen in those who do not ever gain control of their aura, and while many comparisons have been done to those before aura activation and after no physical change can be found. Yet another mystery of just how aura works. We are very good at measuring and controlling aura, but our understanding of what it is is basic at best. Hunter schools have all been tight lipped on their knowledge of aura, further limiting our knowledge.

The final major mechanic of aura is the ability of the user to project his aura into inanimate objects; nonliving things. This has been used mainly for violent purposes. Aura users are able to put their aura into objects, this appears to enhance the objects physical properties. We have compared enhanced and non-enhanced weapons side by side, the aura seems to take on the shape of the object in a kind of outline. Since aura is nearly impenetrable through conventional methods it gives off the illusion of hardening or changing the makeup of the object. Neither of these things are true. A rather curious aspect to this mechanic is that aura users are unable to create their own weapons purely from aura; they have no trouble making a small shield but are unable to make an offensive, bladed weapon from their auras.

There are other, smaller passives to being an aura user, such as a higher metabolism, slower physical and mental aging, enhanced senses; all of these are relevant to the use of aura but not to the affects weapons have on aura. So these passives have been ignored; further information on aura can be found in the _General Knowledge:_ _Aura_,section of the database. Priority 10 Clearance needed.

After much testing we have concluded that pure energy is much more efficient in the shredding or breaking of aura. While the exact reasons could not be completely confirmed, it is of the opinion of the lab that the high temperatures and small area of affect that make laser or energy weaponry so effective. Aura simply cannot adapt quickly enough to the small point of impact and high heat; we hypothesize that the mind simply cannot control aura on the microscopic levels it needs to effectively block laser fire. For reasons previously stated kinetic weaponry is largely ineffective against aura users outside of heavy machine gun rounds, tank rounds, and high velocity sniper rifle rounds.

Until plasma weaponry is perfected and able to be mass produced we advise that the Schnee Dust Company focus on arming their mercenaries with energy based weaponry while making specialized, heavier kinetic weaponry. This mix will be the most effective in combating fellow human beings and especially hunters. Without aura hunters would fall with ease. While kinetic weapons are more effective against the general populace, laser weaponry would negate the reflex advantage hunters and other professional soldiers have. Traveling at the speed of light will ensure that nothing man currently knows of can dodge it. Not even a hunter or huntress.

In conclusion; we have found and confirmed that laser or energy weapons will be vastly superior to their kinetic cousins in the fighting of the White Fang. A majority of their grunts are capable of above average aura defense and the more expert of them can simply brush bullets off without a worry in the world. The use of high powered lasers will prevent any member of the organization to be shot and hit while taking damage. The use of assault rifles has been largely ineffective and will continue to be ineffective.

- Dr. _-retracted-, _Head of Weapons Testing and Research Facility _-retracted-_

-_Schematics of designed weapons retracted from file, further data or commentary in this topic requires Priority 1 access.-_

**So, this is the format much of the lore will be given through from now it. I no longer have to squeeze important lore aspects of my verse into my chapters with the big guy. Reviews are appreciated and welcomed. **


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